Fatty acid profile of two sciaenidae species; <i>Pseudotolithus senegalensis</i> (Valenciennes,1833) and <i>Pseudotolithus typus</i> (Bleeker,1863) from Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was undertaken to quantify the fatty acids in the fillet of two commercially important species of croaker; Pseudotolithus senegalensis and Pseudotolithus typus. The fatty acid composition was determined using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analytical method. The major saturated fatty acids were palmitic acid (14.04%), stearic acid (6.91%) and myristic acid (3.55%) for P. senegalensis and stearic acid (6.00%), myristic acid (3.39%) and Margaric acid (2.54%) for P. typus. The most abundant monounsaturated fatty acids was vaccenic acid and palmitoleic acid for both species with respective values of 14.81% and 9.99% for P. senegalensis and 12.10% and 23.98% for P. typus . The dominant polyunsaturated fatty acids for P. senegalensis were docohexaenoic acid (10.34%), eicosapentaenoic acid (5.00%) and arachidonic acid (4.57%) while it was docosahexaenoic acid (11.24%) and eicosapentaenoic acid (10.97%) for P. typus. They had minor quantity of furanoid fatty acids of 0.88% and 0.13% in P. senegalensis and P. typus respectively. The results showed that the fish species had high quality index of unsaturated fatty acids, however P. typus had a relatively higher ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acid and omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid. The fish species are considered good sources of omega-3 fatty acids with beneficial effects for health of consumers.