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Simple Summary: Fishery products are an important part of the Mediterranean diet and constitute a high source of nutrients for consumers, contributing to the prevention of several health diseases. This work analysed the protein, amino acids, and fatty acids of Mediterranean target species (four fish species and one crustacean species) which are mostly consumed in Sicily. The nutritional composition of the selected species together with the evaluation of nutrient indices showed the high quality of the sampled fish. The excellent profile of the fatty acid of "blue fish" species highlights the opportunity for local people to benefit from a highly nutritional product originating from local and sustainable fisheries and with an affordable commercial value. The protein, essential amino acid, and fatty acid composition of European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus), European hake (Merluccius merluccius), surmullet (Mullus surmuletus), red mullet (Mullus barbatus), and deep water rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris) from the central Mediterranean Sea were investigated. All the species showed an essential amino acid content of about 50% of total amino acids, while the protein and total fatty acids content varied from 19.9 to 24.8% and from 1.4 to 5.1%, respectively. The fatty acid profile mainly followed the order SFA (39.1–52.6%) > PUFA (21.0–39.3%) > MUFA (15.6–24.3%). Palmitic and stearic acids were predominant among saturated fatty acids (38–52% and 21–25%, respectively), while palmitoleic and oleic acids were the most represented of the total monounsaturated acids (10–21% and 55–68%, respectively). All the species, as expected, showed a more significant proportion of n-3 PUFA (EPA + DHA) of about 81–93% of the total PUFA, with the highest values was found in European pilchard. Also, several fat quality index values, such as n-6/n-3 ratio, PUFA/SFA, the index of atherogenicity (IA), the index of thrombogenicity (IT), the hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic ratio (HH), and fish lipid quality/flesh lipid quality (FLQ) were calculated to assess the nutritional quality. All the obtained results, along with the fat quality indexes, indicated the excellent nutritional values of the selected species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Industrial activities significantly damage the surrounding environment due to the release of contaminants of various types. Therefore, the search for parameters that can provide information on the quality of the environment is of great relevance. In this research, for the first time, specimens belonging to Opsius heydeni, an insect living on Tamarix plants, were sampled and analyzed at two Sicilian sites (the polluted industrial site Priolo Gargallo and the control site Oasi del Simeto) to study the effect of pollution on wildlife organisms. Using molecular biology techniques, it has been seen that environmental pollutants can modify the mitochondrial DNA in these specimens; in particular, a decrease in the number of DNA molecules was observed in the specimens sampled at Priolo Gargallo. In conclusion, these results highlight how the studied species can be useful to monitor the effects of pollutants on biota. Mitochondrial DNA easily undergoes alterations due to exposure to stress factors. In particular, mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) variation can be used as a biomarker of the effect of exposure to various environmental contaminants. In this study, a molecular investigation based on the evaluation of mtDNAcn variation was applied for the first time to individuals belonging to the species Opsius heydeni. A total of 20 samples were collected from two sites in eastern Sicily: Priolo Gargallo, a site with a strong anthropic impact, and the Simeto river Oasis, a control site. Specimens identified based on morphological traits were used to obtain COI gene sequences from this species that were not previously available in GenBank. After processing, the relative mtDNAcn was evaluated using real-time PCR of a portion of the COI and 18S genes. A decrease in the mtDNAcn in the specimens from the polluted site was observed. These results highlight how environmental contaminants can alter the mitochondrial genome and how Opsius heydeni can be considered a potential bioindicator species of environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]