Bases ósseas e musculares dos cortes comerciais do tronco de jacaré-do-Pantanal (Caiman yacare Daudin, 1802)

Abstract

Yacare Caiman meat consumption has become a marketing trend and a commodity on the rise in Mato Grosso state in Brazil. In the last four years, cuts from the trunk represented 28.40% of total meat sales. Although evolutionary studies, morphophysiological ontogenetic and technology research have been carried out, characterization of muscle and bone bases of cuts from the torso has not been previously reported. The aim of this research is to describe the muscles and corresponding bones related to sirloin, filet mignon and meat trims cuts. To describe the bones, we used six boned carcasses from juvenile Yacare Caiman, as well as an adult specimen, obtained by donation after death from the Federal University of Mato Grosso Zoo. The bones were macerated, bleached and their anatomical details recorded. In order to study the muscle, 24 juvenile specimens were obtained after slaughter and skinning and dissected on both sides. The sirloin cut consists of the semispinal, longissimus and iliocostalis muscles, which are inserted on thoracic vertebrae and ribs, as well as lumbar and sacral ribs. The meat trims cut is formed by latissimus dorsi, serratus, pectoral and abdominal (external oblique, internal oblique, transversus and rectus) muscles, based in various bones: bone ribs are the thoracic, lumbar, and sacral ribs, the gastralia, the sternum and epipúbis. The filet mignon cut is formed by the internal puboischiofemoralis cranial (sublumbar) muscle and by the troncocaudal (ventral surface of the pelvis) muscle.