Seasonal Variation in Lipid Composition of Sardine (Sardinella gibbosa)

Total lipid (tl) and fatty acid composition of total lipid, neutral lipid (nl) and polar lipid (pl) along with lipid classes were determined in sardine (sardinella gibbosa) over the period of 1 year to study the seasonal changes and to evaluate the nutritional importance. tl varied from 1.9 % to 8.4 %, lowest in month of may and reached its maximum in december. the seasonal data indicates that the main fatty acid of the total lipid, pl and nl fraction were c16:0, c16:1, c18:0, c18:1, c20:5 and c22:6. the neutral lipid fraction 85.94 % to 90.45 % being the dominant fraction of the lean (1.9 % fat) and fatty fish (8.4 % fat) mainly composed of triacylglceride (tag), which was highest (89.6 %) in the fatty fish. the major phospholipids were phosphotidylcholine (pc) and phosphotidylethanol amine (pe) + phosphotydic acid (pa). pc was higher in lean fish whereas pe+pa was higher in fatty fish respectively. the percentage of monounsaturated fatty acid (mufa) particularly c16: 1 and c18: 1 were higher in nl whereas fatty acid of omega-3-polyunsaturated series, c20: 5 and c22: 6 were higher in pl fraction.