Lipids and protein denaturation in fish muscle

Gas‐liquid chromatography has been used to determine the composition of the neutral lipids and phospholipids of the musculature of several species of fish. The nature of the free fatty acids (FFA) developed during cold storage of these species has also been examined. The phospholipids of three teleosts and an elasmobranch were similar containing 50–60% C20 + C22 Polyenes. An attempt has been made to correlate the rate of protein denaturation in these species with the nature of the FFA produced during cold storage. There were no immediately obvious trends either in the nature of the FFA produced or in the composition of the phospholipids or neutral lipids from which the FFA derived. However, species with higher percentages of C22 hexaenes in the FFA liberated during frozen storage did on the whole show greater rates of protein denaturation.