Lipid and fatty acid composition of the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba

Abstract

Total lipid content, lipid class and fatty acid composition of the Antarctic krill Euphausia superba collected from the water of King George Island, Antarctica during austral summer of 1997-1998, were investigated. The overall lipid content of E. superba was 72 mg/g dry mass similar to the reported values for most temperate species. The neutral lipid of E. superba was 29% of the total lipid and that of phospholipid was 71%. The majority of neutral lipid was triacylglycerols (31.6% of neutral lipids) while phosphatidyl choline (44% of phospholipid) was the most abundunt in phospholipids. The quantitative composition of the fatty acid in E. superba show consisting mostly of the saturated 16:0 (16.6% - 22.1%), along with the polyunsaturated 20:5(n-3) (20.6% - 22.1%) and 22:6(n-3) (14.9% - 16.9%) acids.