Biochemical Composition of an Endangered Fish, Labeo bata (Hamilton, 1822) from Bangladesh Waters

Fish play an important role in Bangladeshi diet, constituting the main and often irreplaceable animal source food in poor rural households. The study focused on the proximate composition of Labeo bata both in moisture and dry matter basis. The established AOAC (Association of Official Agricultural Chemist, USA) methods were followed for nutrient composition of fish. In case of moisture basis the percentage of moisture, protein, lipid, ash and carbohydrate was 72.41±0.81, 18.51±0.31, 3.79±0.25, 4.67±0.18, 0.90±0.03, respectively, while in dry matter basis it was 27.64±0.17, 66.75±0.39, 13.44±0.08, 16.63±0.20, 3.51±0.17, respectively. This result indicates that except moisture all other components are higher in dry matter basis than moisture basis. As the fish contain high level of protein will be helpful to reduce the protein demand of the country.