Fatty Acids Composition and Heavy Metals in Marine Fish Samples from the South-Eastern Part of Bangladesh

Abstract

This study investigated the fatty acid compositions, moisture content, ash content, and heavy metals in ten marine fish samples namely, Lates calcarifer, Tenualosa toli, Pampus chinensis, Lapturacanthus savala, Harpodon nehereus, Johnius angentatus, Awaous guamensis, Setipinna phasa, Sillogenopsis panigus, Sardinella longiceps collected from Kuakata sea beach, Bangladesh (south-eastern part). Fatty acid compositions were determined by saponification and esterification followed by identification and quantitation by the gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Ash, fat and moisture contents of the fish samples were in the range of 3.25-6.27%, 0.89-6.08% and 71.47-90.16%, respectively. The amount of saturated fatty acids (SFA) varied in the range of 55.53-89.04% whereas unsaturated fatty acids (USFA) were of 16.45-44.48%. Lauric (3.93-15.19%), palmitic (40.27-67.34%) and stearic acids (5.18-22.88%) were predominant among the individual SFA compositions, whereas oleic (0.91-34.26%), linoleic (0.69- 9.95%) and palmitoleic acids (7.66-19.05%) were predominant among USFA in these species. Samples were freeze-dried, digested and finally analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) for the presence of Lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Manganese (Mn) and the range of these metals were 0.5-1.9, 2.4-30.4, 3.2-10.5, 0.3-8.5 mg/kg, respectively.