Fatty alcohols in capelin, herring and mackerel oils and muscle lipids: II. A comparison of fatty acids from wax esters with those of triglycerides.

The fatty acids recovered from the triglycerides and wax esters of common northwest Atlantic copepods are compared with the fatty acids of wax esters recovered intact from certain fish skin and body lipid, and from commercial fish oils. The fish species, herring, capelin and mackerel, all feed on copepods, and many resemblances of the copepod lipid fatty acids to those of a previous analysis of similar copepods suggest that the basic dietary fat input for these fish may be quite constant. The two copepod fatty acid analyses differed quantitatively in triglyceride 20:1 and 22:1 and also in 20:5 omega 3 and 22:6 omega 3, confirming the primary role of the wax esters in copepods. Selectivity factors are discussed in comparing the copepod wax ester fatty acids with the fatty acids of the wax esters recovered intact from the fish lipids and oils. The basic role of copepods in supplying all types of fatty acids to fish depot fats is considered to be strongly supported by these findings.