Umami taste from an edible fish E. suratensis of Ashtamudi Lake, India

Abstract

:- E. suratensisis a native of south India commonly found in the fresh and the brackish waters of Kerala. This fish is delicious and is  much relished by the local people. This fish shows differences in palatability aspects which are available from ecologically diverse locations within the Ashtamudi Lake. This is an attempt to evaluate and confirm the influence of food on the proximate composition and amino acid and also on the composition offatty acid. Gut content and biochemical analysis for two years have been done. Fishes from the site consuming more filamentous algae show remarkable variation in all the biochemical factors .Tyrosine and phenylalanine have significant part to play in improving  the umami taste. A high level of fat content also affects this. These effects owe their presence to the divergence  in food factors especially algal rich diet that is consumed by the fish. The algae diet contains maximum fat content and difference in levels of free amino acid and other ecological factors have been discussed.