Application of Image Analyzing Technique to Determination of Lipid Contents of Fishes

Abstract

The possibility of digital image processing for determining lipid contents in fish body as a rapid and simple method was examined. The image of cross sections of ayu, sardine and Pacific saury without viscera were measured. The lipid contents of the samples were estimated from the percentage of fat tissue area in the cross section of the samples measured by image analysis. These estimated values were related to the lipid contents measured by the conventional chemical method using an extraction with organic solvents. In the image analysis characteristic fat tissues of ayu and subcutaneous fat tissues of sardine and Pacific saury were clearly distinguished from ordinary muscler tissues. There are good correlation between the lipid contents estimated by an image analysis and that by the conventional method. We demonstrated that an image analyzing technique was useful for the estimation of the lipid contents of fish of which fat tissue was clearly distinguished from ordinary muscler tissue.