Potential Taurine Content from Three Different Macroalgaes: Halimeda opuntia L., Sargassum sp. and Eucheuma cottonii L.

As one of the marine resources, macroalgae presumably contains of free amino acid such as taurine. Taurine is known to be one of the most important amino acid related to hyperosmotic stress for most of living organisms. The study was conducted to explore the taurine contain from the most abundance macroalgae found in Indonesia seawater, especially in Lampung Province, namely Halimeda opuntia L., Sargassum sp. and Eucheuma cottonii L. Maceration followed by ethanol extraction was applied to those three different macroalgae and the filtrate was identified for its taurine content by using UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Standard of pure taurine of 0,1 and 1 M (NOW) was used and the maximum wavelength of under the UV-Vis spectrophotometry was 630 nm. Simple correlation from the standard taurine was y = 0.001x+0.033 and used to determine the taurine content of those three macroalgae. The result indicated that potential taurine content of Halimeda opuntia L was 7.85 mg/100g dry mass, Sargassum sp was 1.21 mg/100g dry mass and Eucheuma cottonii L was 4.61 mg/100g dry mass.