Composition of total, neutral, and phospholipids in Mapará (Hypophthalmus sp.) from the Brazilian Amazonian area.

Ten lots of mapará (Hypophthalmus sp.), captured from the Amazon River, Brazil, were analyzed for their lipid content and fatty acid composition. This knowledge would allow for the development of adequate processing methods and the formulation of therapeutic diets. Separation into neutral and phospholipids was accomplished by silica-gel column chromatography. Fat from the muscular tissue and from the orbital cavity of the mapará was analyzed by high-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in two different seasonal periods. There were high levels of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in the total and neutral lipid with the principal components 16:0, 18:1omega9, 18:0, 16:1omega7, 14:0, 18:3omega3, and 18:1omega7 in both seasons. In the phospholipids there was a high level of polyunsaturated fatty acids, including primarily 16:0, 18:1omega9, 18:0, 16:1omega7, 22:6omega3, 20:4omega6, 18:3omega3, and 20:5omega3. The ratio omega3/omega6 was the same in the muscular tissue and in the orbital cavity, in both seasonal periods. The muscle tissue could be used in diets that need high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, but use of the head to produce an omega3 fatty-acid-rich oil still requires greater study with respect to its economic viability.