## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Nutritional Analysis  
The nutritional composition, with measurements of moisture, ash, protein, fat, fibre, carbohydrates, and energy, is shown in Table 1.  
All of the seaweed species harvested from Buarcos beach exhibited a high moisture content, including 89.5% for _Ulva_ sp., 95.5% for _Gracilaria multipartita_, and 91.7% for _Sargassum muticum_, whereas _S. muticum_ from San Marcos had a lower moisture content of 86.87%. The second moisture content and dry matter of the samples were determined after drying. Among the Buarcos species, _S. muticum_ (7.77 \(\pm\) 0.10 g/100 g) had the highest second moisture value, followed by _Ulva_ sp. (7.58 \(\pm\) 0.03 g/100 g) and _G. multipartita_ (6.07 \(\pm\) 0.30 g/100 g), while the moisture content of the _S. muticum_ from Buarcos was \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Nutritional Composition**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Taxon**} \\ \cline{2-5}  & _Ulva_ **sp.** & _G. multipartita_ & _S. muticum_ & _S. muticum_ \\  & **(Buarcos)** & **(Buarcos)** & **(Buarcos)** & **(San Marcos)** \\ \hline Moisture (g/100 g dw) & 7.58 \(\pm\) 0.03 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 6.07 \(\pm\) 0.30 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 7.77 \(\pm\) 0.10 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 5.56 \(\pm\) 0.10 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) \\ Dry Matter (g/100 g) & 92.42 \(\pm\) 0.03 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 93.93 \(\pm\) 0.30 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 92.23 \(\pm\) 0.10 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 94.44 \(\pm\) 0.10 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \\ Ash (g/100 g dw) & 33.53 \(\pm\) 0.09 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 26.56 \(\pm\)0.02 \({}^{\mathrm{d}}\) & 28.42 \(\pm\) 0.06 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 30.17 \(\pm\) 0.30 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \\ Organic Matter (g/100 g dw) & 66.47 \(\pm\) 0.09 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 73.44 \(\pm\) 0.02 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 71.58 \(\pm\) 0.06 \({}^{\mathrm{d}}\) & 69.83 \(\pm\) 0.30 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \\ Crude Protein (g/100 g dw) & 18.05 \(\pm\) 0.10 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 18.43 \(\pm\) 0.07 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 10.25 \(\pm\) 0.35 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 10.13 \(\pm\) 0.07 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) \\ Crude Fat (g/100 g dw) & 0.11 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 0.14 \(\pm\) 0.00 \({}^{\mathrm{ab}}\) & 0.19 \(\pm\) 0.01 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 0.19 \(\pm\) 0.05 \({}^{\mathrm{ab}}\) \\ Crude Fibre (g/100 g dw) & 5.83 \(\pm\) 0.02 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 6.17 \(\pm\) 0.35 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 10.88 \(\pm\) 0.20 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 6.24 \(\pm\) 1.34 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \\ Carbohydrates (g/100 g dw) & 42.48 \(\pm\) 0.15 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 48.70 \(\pm\) 0.41 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 50.33 \(\pm\) 0.74 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 53.28 \(\pm\) 1.11 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) \\ Energy (kcal/100 g dw) & 254.77 \(\pm\) 0.09 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 282.15 \(\pm\) 1.37 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 265.68 \(\pm\) 0.07 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) & 267.79 \(\pm\) 2.44 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \\ Energy (kJ/100 g dw) & 1079.72 \(\pm\) 0.39 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 1195.89 \(\pm\) 5.94 \({}^{\mathrm{a}}\) & 1123.51 \(\pm\) 0.36 \({}^{\mathrm{c}}\) & 1134.81 \(\pm\) 10.84 \({}^{\mathrm{b}}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Nutritional composition (g/100 g dw) of the samples of three species of seaweed of _Ulva_ sp., _Gracilaria multipartita_, and _Sargassum muticum_ from Buarcos beach and _S. muticum_ from San Marcos beach. The results are expressed as mean values \(\pm\) standard deviation. Different letters (\({}^{\mathrm{a,b,c,d}}\)) represent statistical differences between species. higher than that of the sample from San Marcos (5.56 \(\pm\) 0.10 g/100 g). This seaweed therefore showed the greatest dry matter, with a value of 94.44 \(\pm\) 0.10 g/100 g.  
As for the organic matter, the highest value was found in _G. multipartita_ (73.44 \(\pm\) 0.02 g/100 g dw), which was significantly higher than all of the other species, whereas _Ulva_ sp. had the lowest value (66.47 \(\pm\) 0.09 g/100 g dw). Regarding the ash content, _Ulva_ sp. had the significantly highest value (33.53 \(\pm\) 0.09 g/100 g dw), while _S. muticum_ (Buarcos) and _G.