Fatty Acid Composition of Lipid from Horse Mackerel Muscle-Discussion of Fatty Acid Composition of Fish Lipid

The fatty acid compositions of whole lipid, neutral lipid (NL), free fatty acid and phospholipid (PL) were determined by GLC on 14 samples of horse mackerel ordinary muscle which contained whole lipid in the range from 1.1 to 11.2%. Analyses of the fatty acid composition of whole lipid illustrated considerable differences related to variations in lipid content. As for the compositions of NL and PL, they differed but neither showed any obvious change as compared with that of whole lipid except for 18:0 in NL and 16:1 and 20:5 in PL. Consequently, the characteristic fatty acid compositions were recognized in 16:0, 16:1, 18:1 and 22:6 for NL and 16:0, 18:0, 18:1 and 22:6 for PL with species differences. As a result, the authors postulated that the fatty acid distribution of fish lipid should be discussed not in terms of the fatty acid composition of whole lipid but in terms of the NL and PL fatty acid compositions.