Abstract:

Biochemical composition of krill Euphausia superba sampled from three stations in Bransfield Strait and norh of king George Island in January 1985 during the First Chinese Antarctic Expedition was analysed. The krill was collected by oblique tow of IKMT, then washed with water and stored immediately at -25℃ in a deep freeze refrigerator. The analysis was carried out later in laboratory. The results are given in Table 1 and 2. Crude protein as a major constituent of the bodies of E. superba ranges from 61 to 70% dry weight (average 66%) . Crude lipid ranges from 5.8 to 16.9% (average 11.5%) . Carbohydrate is the lowest and ranges from 1.4 to 2.0% (average 1.7%) . Ash is 15.6% dry weight in the krill. There is an evidence that negative correlation exists between protein and lipid concentrations in male based on data of different sexual maturity. It seems that there is metabolic conversion from lipid to protein with the development of sexual maturity in male. Analysis of inorganic elements indicates that calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium and strontium, which are the common elements in seawater, are rather high in the krill bodies. The calcium content is 48 to 56% of total amount of inorganic elements.