Biochemical composition of tropical eel Anguilla bicolor McClelland,1844 in Freshwater and Estuary

Faculty of Biology, Jenderal Soedirman University. Jl. Dr Soeparno No 63 Purwokerto 53123, Central Java, Indonesia.

^* Corresponding author: farida.rachmawati@unsoed.ac.id

Abstract

During migration, Anguilla bicolor will stop its feeding activity and use energy from its body lipid stores. Therefore, information on changes in the body lipid content of eels is essential to know the preparation of spawning migration. Thus, it is interesting to study the body composition of A. bicolor in freshwater and estuaries. This research conducted a survey method. The eel was obtained from the Serayu River (freshwaters) and Segara Anakan (Estuary). The observed variables were water, dry weight, lipid, protein, crude fiber, ash, and BETN of eel. Oneway ANOVA analyzed data. The results show that freshwater eels' average body length and weight were 457.875 cm ± 153.8552 and 224.4375 g ± 165.3735. The body length and weight of the estuary eels were smaller than freshwater eels, which are 372.5714 cm ± 152.6467 and 109.6429 g ± 134.6054, respectively. The body composition of eel, except for lipid content, was similar for both habitats (p>0.05). However, the body lipid content of freshwater eels and the estuarine eel differed (p<0.05), namely 40.15% ± 9.63 and 27.33% ± 9.93, respectively. In conclusion, the lipid body content of freshwater eels was higher than the estuary eel, while another is relatively the same.