n-3 Polyunsaturated fatty acids in lipids of ascidian Halocynthia roretzi

The fatty acid composition of the edible ascidain Halocynthia roretzi was studied by means of open-tubular GLC with medium polarity phase Silar-5CP. About fifty components were ob-served, and their distribution among neutral and polar lipids was compared. The main fatty acids were found to be 14:0, 16:0, 16:1 (n-7), 18:0, 18:1 (n-9), 18:1 (n-7), 18:4 (n-3), 20:3 (n-3), 20:5 (n-3), and 22:6 (n-3). In monoenes, (n-7) series fatty acids were predominant, while nine tenths of the polyenoic fatty acids were represented by (n-3) series fatty acids, mainly eicosapen-taenoic. The literature data obtained by packed column GLC were compared with those obtained in the present investigation.