Metabolism of fatty acids in fish. I. Development of essential fatty acid deficiency in the carp, Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus 1758

Carp, 15–25 g in weight, were maintained on diets containing linolenic acid in various concentrations (0.5, 1.0, 3.4 and 11.1 mg/g food) for 4 weeks and the fatty acid composition of liver total lipids as well as that of liver triglycerides and phospholipids was determined. The fish ingesting the diet containing 1.1% linolenate accumulated only negligible amounts of 20:3 ω 9 and exhibited a low ratio of 20:3 ω 9 to 22:6 ω 3 (0.07) in the total lipid. This ratio increased from 0.33 to 2.00 in liver total lipids of fish ingesting 3.4, 1.0 and 0.5 mg linolenic acid in 1 g of food. This effect was more pronounced in the phospholipids. The level of oleic acid in triglycerides was inversely related to the concentration of linolenic acid in the diet. Linoleic acid at a concentration of 13–16 mg/g food was unable to prevent the accumulation of 20:3 ω 9 in the lipids of fish ingesting diets containing a low level of linolenate. The possible effects of dietary linolenate on the fatty acid metabolism of fish are discussed.