Influence of nutrition on the lipid quality of pond fish: common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and tench (Tinca tinca)

Like marine fish freshwater fish are an important source of essential fatty acids for human nutrition. However, the fatty acid composition of pond fish can vary considerably and strongly depends on that of the ingested food. Investigations on the fatty acid composition of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and tench (Tinca tinca) have shown that different methods of rearing and feeding cause substantial variations in the proportions of the n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids of these fish species. Carp reared on the basis of natural food in ponds exhibit high contents of n-6 as well as n-3 fatty acids in their muscle triacylglycerols. On the other hand carp fed supplementary wheat in ponds resulted in somewhat lower levels of these essential fatty acids. High amounts of n-3 fatty acids can be found in carp fed high-energy diets containing high levels of fish oil. Analogous results were obtained in experiments with tench reared under different nutritional conditions. While rearing on the basis of only natural food in ponds as well as feeding supplementary wheat yielded in similar levels of n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, higher contents of n-3 fatty acids were recorded in tench fed pellets. High levels of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in foodstuffs have positive effects on human health. Experiments with different cultured fish species proved that the fatty acid composition of the edible parts can be influenced by the diet. Therefore, a finishing diet with a suitable fatty acid profile can be used to improve the nutritional quality of fish products of farmed origin.