Determination of Seasonal Vitamin and Mineral Contents of Sea Bream (Sparus aurata L., 1758) Cultured in Net Cages in Central Black Sea Region Dilara Kaya Öztürk 1 & Birol Baki 1 & İsmihan Karayücel 1 & Recep Öztürk 2 & Gülşen Uzun Gören 1 & Sedat Karayücel 1 Received: 1 March 2018 /Accepted: 7 May 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract This study aimed to determine the seasonal vitamin and mineral contents of sea bream (Sparus aurata) cultured in net cages in Central Black Sea region. The average seasonal A, D 3 , and E vitamins values in fish meat were between 0.27 ± 0.02–0.60 ± 0.00, 0.98 ± 0.01–1.70 ± 0.00, and 3.10 ± 0.14–6.00 ± 0.21 mg/kg, respectively (p < 0.05). The average seasonal Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na, P, Zn, and Se values in fish meat were between 276.90 ± 0.99–1788.50 ± 51.27 (p < 0.05), 3.50 ± 0.12–4.47 ± 0.18 (p > 0.05), 4244.50 ± 8.84–4761.50 ± 1.06 (p < 0.05), 251.55 ± 2.55–312.65 ± 11.42 (p < 0.05), 56.49 ± 0.04–128.75 ± 0.18 (p < 0.05), 2234.50 ± 15.20–2619.00 ± 7.07 (p < 0.05), 5.62 ± 0.10–15.30 ± 0.22 (p < 0.05), and 0.30 ± 0.00–0.38 ± 0.01 mg/kg (p > 0.05), respectively. As a result, it can be concluded that sea bream cultured in the Central Black Sea region is a rich source of nutrients in terms of vitamins and mineral matters, and fish size, feed quality, and the environmental factors are influential on the contents of vitamin and mineral substances in the fish tissue. Keywords Sea bream . Sparus aurata . Black Sea . Vitamin . Mineral matters Introduction It is known that the production of aquatic products has been decreasing by fishing while it has been increasing by aquacul- ture. It is predicted that until 2030, both aquatic products ob- tained by aquaculture and fisheries will be equalized in the world [1]. Accordingly, it is estimated that production of freshwater fish like carp (Cyprinus carpio) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), marine fish like sea bream (Sparus aurata) and sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), and other alter- native fish species will also increase in Turkey. Countries focus on the culture of fish species that are easy to produce and sustainable. The high economic value of sea bream, one of the most produced Mediterranean fish species, with high salinity tolerance, increases the importance of this species in the aquaculture sector. Sea bream production, which was reflected to the statistics as 10 t in the 1970s in the world, reached 136,506 t in 2015 [2]. While 55.7% of the production came from Europe and 44.3% from Asian countries, Turkey is also a leader position in sea bream production in the world with 51,844 t (38% in 2015) [3]. Vitamins and minerals are known as micronutrients and necessary for the cell metabolism and therefore for the physio- logical development of living organisms. Thus, people are tak- ing vitamins or mineral supplements daily in order to improve the quality of life and the quality of their mental and physical activities. Fish and other aquatic products with rich contents of vitamins, mineral matters, and trace elements have a distinctive importance in the healthy nutritional model of human [4, 5]. Of all 90 naturally occurring inorganic elements, 29 are considered to be essential for all cultured fish species [6]. Micro minerals such as calcium (Ca), potassium (K), magne- sium (Mg), sodium (Na) and phosphorus (P), and micro min- erals such as copper (Cu), iron (Fe), iodine (I), manganese (Mn) selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn) are very important elements for fish and they are the minerals that must be found in feeds for cultured species [7]. Vitamins are organic compounds re- quired in trace amounts from an exogenous source for normal growth, reproduction, and health. A few vitamins can be * Dilara Kaya Öztürk dilara.kaya55@gmail.com 1 Faculty of Fisheries and Aquatic Science, Department of Aquaculture, Sinop University, Sinop, Turkey 2 Sagun Aquaculture, Fisheries Ind. Tra. Lmt. Com., Sinop, Turkey Biological Trace Element Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-018-1382-2