During this survey from February until November 2011 in four seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall), 252 speciemen of CLUPEONELLA grimmi were sampled from Caspian Sea’s Babolsar fishing ground, in each sampling 63 fishes were examined and four species of parasite were isolated from them. Parasites found were: Larvae of Contracaecum sp. and Larvae of Anisakis sp., Bunocotyle cingulata and Pseudopentagrama symmetrica. In this survey the percentage of infection and intensity of infection of parasites found have been expressed in C. grimmi in the Caspian Sea. During one year percentages of the above mentioned parasities were: 1.6, 0.4, 26.2 and 36.9 respectively and during one year the parasitic intensity of infections were: 1.25, 1, 2.6, 10.3 respectively. P. symmetrica parasite showed high percentage of infection among other parasites and second was B. cingulata (both of the Trematoda are non-zoonusen). Contracaecum sp. and Anisakis sp. are Nematoda and zoonusen,in terms of percentage and intensity of infection, among other parasites in C. grimmi fish, they were in next rank. P. symmetrica and B. cingulata parasites were found in all four seasons of the year but Contracaecum was just found in summer and also Anisakis sp. was only fount in fall. Among seasons of the year, summer with 88.9 percent, showed most percentage and winter with 22.22 percent, showed least percentage of contamination to in C. grimmi. Most infection rate was found in the parasites of the gastrointestinal tract and after that the abdominal organs and the gonads (testis). Other organs of fish under survey such as: eyes, gill, skin, swim blader, kidney were healthy and free of parasitic contamination. In this survey, none of common protozoan parasites were found in fish, therefore according to the findings of the present study the parasites found in C. grimmi didn't severely damage the fishes health and probably only caused reduced growth and have little impact on decline in fish populations. But existence of parasites like Contracaecum sp. and Anisakis sp. inside the fish’s body, fish consumption must be with care in cooking and producing. Human feeding on fish infected with above mentioned parasites, can cause these parasites to grow in human body and can develop pathogenesis effects.

Modifications in fat and fatty acid composition during prolonged storage of canned common kilka (CLUPEONELLA cultriventris) were studied. In this study common kilka was processed under traditional Mediterranean method and then stored for up to 3 years. Qualitative characteristics including total fat, fatty acids profile, free fatty acids, thiobarbituric acid, fluorescence compound of filling media and aquatic phase of lipid extract in fish (row canned and stored canned) were determined and compared with each other. Results showed that canning led to a decrease in total fat, although during 3 years storage, total fat did not change significantly. During the long term storage, amounts of free fatty acids, fluorescence and secondary lipid oxidation compounds were increased significantly. After canning, linoleic acid of tissues increased significantly as result of the interaction between tissue lipid and filling media. EPA and DHA of canned fish tissue decreased. Some of these fatty acids with other specific fatty acids were found in the sunflower oil that was used for coating. During prolonged storage, the n-3/n-6 ratio of tissue’s fatty acids decreased. At the same time, this ratio, in filling media, increased. Results of this investigation showed that, with increase of storage time, interaction between tissue fatty acids and filling media increases.

The objective of the present study was to determine chemical composition and fatty acid profile of common Kilka, CLUPEONELLA cultriventris caspia, in the Caspian Sea. The chemical analysis revealed that the protein and lipid content of common Kilka were 15.05 and 6.5% of the fresh weight, and total MUFA, PUFA and SFA were found to be 37.00, 32.89 and 29.03% respectively. Palmitic acid (16: 0) among total SFAs, oleic acid (18: 1n-9) among MUFAs, Docosahexanoid acid (DHA) (22: 6n-3) among n-3 PUFAs and linoleic acid (LA) (18: 2n-6) among n-6 PUFAs were the most abundant fatty acids. The obtained results revealed that common Kilka is a better source ofw-3 PUFAs than w-6. DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) were the major components of w-3 PUFAs. Levels of DHA and EPA were 20.79% and 6.97% respectively. The PUFA/SFA ratio was 1.13 in common Kilka. This ratio was more than the recommended minimum value (0.45).The EPA/DHA ratio was 0.34 in common Kilka. The present study suggests that common Kilka is rich in essential unsaturated fatty acids of the w-3 family, especially DHA which may be considered nutritionally attractive for human.

Effects of washing cycle (1,2 and 3 cycles) and time (5,10 and 15 min) and washing media (chilled water and alkalin-salin washing Containing 0.15% NaCl and 0.2% NaHC03) on color (L*, a* and b*), flavor and odor of CLUPEONELLA engrauliformis were evaluated. The results showed that increasing the washing cycle could improve the color of surimi, and increase in witheness occurred for minced washed with chilled water, but increasing the washing time slowly improved the color of surimi and alkalin -salin washing had a lower effect compared with Chilled water. Increasing the washing cycle and time improved the flavor and odor of mince and alkalin washinghad a grater effect than chilled water. Extraction of 21% protein of mince reduced the flavorand odor intensities.

The aim of the present study is surveying on the population structure of bigeye kilka (CLUPEONELLA grimmi Kessler, 1877) in the southern Caspian Sea in Mazandaran Province coasts. In this study which was conducted during 2010, 1043 samples were fortnightly provided from Babolsar fishing harbor in Mazandaran province. Length, weight, sexuality and age of samples were determined. Age was determined using sagitta otoliths. The results were compared with previous years. The growth parameters were calculated as (L∞=149.7mm, k=0.32 yr-1, t0=-1.20 yr) for females and (L∞=136.5mm, k=0.65yr-1, t0=-0.24yr) for males. Length-weight relationship in females was W=0.000006 FL3.043 (R2=0.813) and in males was W=0.0000006 FL3.079 (R2=0.834) which growth pattern in both sexes was positive allometric. Bigeye kilka population was constituted of 6 age groups, including 2-7 years. Mean age of females and males were 4.09±1.25 and 3.61±1.45 years, respectively. In females, four-year- old fish were dominant with 33.34 percent relative abundance. In males, three-year- old fish were dominant with 47.45 percent relative abundance. Male-female sex ratio was 0.656: 1 and females were dominant. Results showed that in recent years, bigeye kilka population has become older and their length and weight have increased. According to the biological parameters and comparing with the previous years, bigeye kilka has not been very affected by the Caspian Sea pelagic changes, due to inhabiting in deep regions.

In this study, membrane process was used to remove omega-3 from the black sea sprat CLUPEONELLA cultiventris fish oil. For this purpose, neat polymeric membranes containing 14-17wt. % polyethersulfone (PES) were fabricated by wet phase inversion technique and used for omega-3 removal. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis of permeate showed that the neat membrane containing 17wt. % PES has the best maximum performance for omega-3 removal (nearly 60%). To increase the oil permeation, stearic acid, paraffin and glycerol monostearate additives were added to the polymeric solution as lipophilic compounds and then the properties of the synthesized membranes were investigated using the Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and contact angle (CA) analysis. The SEM results showed that the addition of these materials did not change the synthesized membranes’ morphology significantly compared to neat membrane. Contact angle analysis results also indicated that the lipophilicity of the membranes increased by addition of the lipophilic compounds. Liquid-liquid displacement test showed that the pore size of the neat membrane is in the ultrafiltration range, which is suitable for the removal of omega-3 molecules with a molecular weight of nearly 1000 Dalton as well. Addition of the lipophilic compounds increased the permeation flux and reduced the percentage of omega-3 removal compared to neat polyethersulfone membranes.

The main objective of the present study was qualitative assessment of three species of kilka (anchovy kilka: CLUPEONELLA engrauliformis Svetovidov, 1941; bigeye kilka: C. grimmi Kessler, 18771 and common kilka: C. cultriventris Bordin, 1904) stocks by using indicators of overfishing in Iranian waters of the Caspian Sea during a long period (1996-2011). Three fisheries indicators in catch were: 1. percentage of mature fish, with 100% as target; 2. percent of specimens with optimum length, with 100% as target; and 3. percentage of mega-spawners, with 0% as target. According to the results, the ranges of length with optimum yield for three species of kilka were 85-105, 90-110 and 80-100 mm, and the mega-spawner measured as fish a size larger than 100, 110 and 105 mm, respectively. During the period, for three species of kilka, the percentage of mature had an increasing trend. The optimum size declined since 2004 for anchovy, 2002 for bigeye and 2005 for common kilka. The percentage of mature of anchovy and bigeye kilka were more than 78% (often more than 95%). For common kilka, it decreased from 100% to 58% in 1999 and the increased to 90% in 2001. The mega-spawners of three species had and inverse trend. The length structures of anchovy and bigeye kilka are a matter of concern. According to the present study, the stock of common kilka had a better situation than anchovy and bigeye kilka in the Caspian Sea. 

This study was conducted to determine a proper formulation for Kilka soup powder preperation, and to find its nutritive value, as well as its shelflife. Newly caught fish were dried in the oven after having been prepared and cooked, then converted into powder in a mortar. The resultant powder was processed with different additives to make Kilka soup powder in three formulae. The best formula was chosen using Hedonic’s method. In order to determine the shelflife, tests of TVN, peroxide, total microbial count and organoleptic tests were made at predetermined time intervals for a duration of 120 days. The results indicate that TVN changes from 5.56 to 21.5 mg/100g., peroxide from 1.39 to 4.28 meq/kg. and total microbial count from 9´ 104 to 2.2 ´ 102/g. Percentage protein and fat in the samples decreased from 52.05 and 5.8 to 46.3 and 4.9, respectively. TVN and peroxide changes are shown to be in a linear relationship with temperature and shelflife. These results as well as the results of organoleptic tests suggest that the samples remain in good conditions for a period of about 60 days, before being deteriorated. Also statistical tests indicated that at a level of p<0.05 the results were significant. Thus the shelflife of the product was finally determined to be about 60 days.