A. Gopalakrishnan -et al., IJSIT, 2013, 2(5),432-443 IJSIT (www.ijsit.com), Volume 2, Issue 5, September-October 2013 432 COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF NORMAL AND TUMOR TISSUE, SARDINELLA LONGICEPS (VALENCIENNES, 1847) FROM NAGAPATTINUM SOUTHEAST COAST OF INDIA A. Gopalakrishnan * , K. Sinduja and A. Sakthivel Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University, Parangipettai – 608 502, Tamil Nadu – India ABSTRACT Fish are at present in high demand in food markets, they are widely consumed in many parts of the world because they posses high protein content, saturated fat and also contain omega fatty acids known to support good health. The present study deals with biochemical composition of common fish,Sardinella longiceps. The proximate composition of protein, carbohydrate, lipid, amino acids and fatty acids were studied. The results of proximate composition in S. longiceps showed the percentage of protein was high in the normal and tumor infected fish tissue (29.15 &18.93%), followed by the carbohydrate (5.81 & 2.42 %) and lipid (15.61 & 9.28 %). The percentage compositions of essential and non-essential amino acids are presented in normal tissue and tumor infected tissue were found to be as 46.09 % & 41.47 % and 37.23% & 40.63%. In the analysis, the fatty acid profile by gas chromatography revealed the presence of higher amount of PUFA (Linolenic acid 32.74 %) in normal tissue. The details of the vitamins detected in S. longicepstissue. Among them, vitamin A was found in higher levels (91.16 mg/gm) at normal tissue. In the present study, totally 5 macro minerals and 2 trace minerals were reported. The S. longiceps normal and infected tissue contributed maximum sodium (289.6 mg/gm) and Potassium (166.5 mg/gm) of minerals. The result shows that marine fish (S. longiceps) tissue is a valuable food recipe for human consumption, due to its high quality protein and well-balanced amino acids fatty acids and vitamins and minerals. Key words: Marine fish, S. longiceps, proximate composition, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.