Comparative fatty acids of the dolphin and the herring

Abstract and Summary The tissue samples from two bottlenosed dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) became available, and it was dedided to examine the fatty acid compositions of the phospholipid fracations. The food chain of the dolphin provides a vast preponderance of ω3 series fatty acids compared to ω6, while the land food chain provides a more even balance between the two series. The ancestors of the dolphin had evolved on the land with the terrestrial ω3:ω6 balance, but the dolphin now lives in an ω3‐rich environment. The investigations were carried out to discover whether the dolphin reflected its marine environment or alternatively its evolutionary history. The results showed that the fatty acids of the dolphin bear a much closer resemblance to those of land mammals than to those of other marine vertebrates.