Fatty Acid Compositions of 15 Species of Fish From Tropical Waters

Fatty acid composition of five species of freshwater fish, three marine fish and seven brackish water fish were determined by GLC. Of the saturated fatty acids C 16:0 and C 18:0 are found to be the dominant ones with C 16:0 accounting for 50‐55% of the total saturated acids. Among the monounsaturated fatty acids C 16:1 and C 18:1 and polyunsaturated fatty acids C 18:2, C 18:3, C 20:4, C 20:5 and C 22:6 are found to be the important ones. Stinging cat fish contained the highest amount of C 16:1 (16.52%). The level of arachidonic acid was fairly high in most of the fish lipids analyzed. The ratio C 18:1 /C 18:2 is higher for marine fish than for the freshwater fish and is fairly constant for each group. The fatty acid composition of brackish water fish do not show any definite pattern.