Studies on the nutrition of marine flatfish. The effect of different dietary fatty acids on the growth and fatty acid composition of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus).

1. Five groups of juvenile turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) which had been given a diet free of fat for 12 weeks were given diets in which the lipid component (g/kg) was: oleic acid alone 50, oleic acid 40+linoleic acid 10, oleic acid 40+linolenic acid 10, oleic acid40+arachidonic acid 10 or oleic acid 40+cod-liver oil 10. These five experimental diets were given for 16 weeks. 2. Weight gains were highest in the group given the diet containing cod-liver oil and lowest in the groups given diets containing oleic acid alone or oleic acid+linoleic acid. Weight gains in the groups given oleic acid+arachidonic acid or linolenic acid were markedly inferior to those of the group given oleic acid+cod-liver oil. It is concluded that arachidonic acid is inferior to polyunsaturated fatty acids of the omega3 series in maintaining growth rate in turbot. 3. Fatty acid analyses of neutral lipids and phospholipids of liver and extrahepatic tissues did not suggest any evidence of desaturation of dietary oleic acid, linoleic acid or linolenic acid by the turbot. These experiments confirm previous isotopic evidence that turbot lack the necessary microsomal desaturases to perform this metabolic transformation.