Abstract

Fish skins, particularly those of snakehead fish (Channa striata), mrigal carp (Cirrhinus mrigala), and salmon (Salmo salar), are of great value as by-products in the fisheries industry, because of their high organic matter content and further biochemical processing. It examines into the impact of body weight on the biochemical composition and collagen content of the skins of these three fish species. Both sexes of fresh fish were classified into small, medium, and large bodyweight categories. Biochemical composition, amino acid profiling, hydroxyproline content determination, and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) for each species were used to examine the skin composition for biochemical parameters, amino acid profile, collagen content, microstructure, and mineral composition. Moisture and ash contents decrease, whereas lipid content increases with body weight. There were no significant trends in protein composition concerning body heaviness for any species. Glycine and proline were found to be major amino acids for all species, and with the analysis for hydroxyproline, all three species presented collagen in the skin. EDS analysis of minerals in the different species' skins was also distinguished. No significance in collagen proteins was observed at any of the body weight classes for any species. It highlights the biochemical composition, mineral content, and amino acid profile of fish skin to ascertain its potential economic value and further utilization as a by-product.