Estimation of volatile constituents in the fish flesh from wild and farmed Cirrhina mrigala and Cyprinus carpio

Analysis of fish meat using gas chromatography is described. Flavor is the sensation arising from the interplay of the signals of sensing smell, taste and irritating stimuli from food stuff. For human, flavor and nutrition are inseparable. In fish, trace amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the major compounds to affect consumer's preference, which are produced during storage and spoilage. In the present study, volatile compounds were extracted by Likens-Nickerson con-current distillation apparatus from wild and farmed Cirrhina mrigala and Cyprinus carpio. The quantitative and qualitative estimation of volatiles was made by gas chromatography. Wild and farmed fish of different fish sizes were compared for these compounds (appearing in the form of peaks), which were identified from their retention time by comparing with the stand-ards. Fifteen major VOCs were found in these species which included hexadecane, 3-octanol, hexanal, decane, 3-hexene-1-ol, 2-undecanone, 2-heptanone, butanal, 2-nonanone, 1-heptanal, furaldehyde, 3-methyl-1-butanal, trans-3-hexene-1-ol, octanal and decanal. These compounds varied qualitatively and quantitatively in both wild and farmed fish of different fish sizes.