The purpose of this work is to determine the total cholesterol content and proximate composition of the commercial fish from the Ceará State, Brazil. The species were the marine bream fish Lutjanus purpureus and three freshwater fish, tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, "curimatã", Prochilodus cearensis, and sardine, Triportheus angulatus, from the open market (Mucuripe and around the city) and from a supermarket in Fortaleza. The content of cholesterol, proximate composition, and the caloric value of the samples were determined. The average value of cholesterol (mg.100 g-1) was 33.5 in the red sea bream; 28,4 in the common tilápia; 93.8 in the "curimatã" and 61.2 in the sardine. Regarding the proximate composition, the following average values were obtained: 80.7; 80.2; 76.4, and 77.2% of humidity, 18.4; 17.7; 18.7, and 17.6% of the total protein; 1.0; 1.2; 3.2; and 4.6% of total lipids; 0.7; 0.8; 0,8; and 1.0% of the ash, and 0.5; 0.6, 2.0; and 0.3% of carbohydrates, respectively for the red sea bream, tilapia, "curimatã" and sardine. The energetic average value (kcal.100 g-1) was 83.7 for the red sea bream, 83.6 for tilapia; 108.4 for "curimatã", and 111.8 for sardine.
marine fish; freshwater fish; cholesterol; nutritive value; caloric value
