Distribution of Diacyl Glyceryl Ethers in the Different Tissues and Stomach Contents of Gonatid Squid Berryteuthis magister

Abstract

The lipid class compositions of the different tissues and stomach contents of the gonatid squids Berryteuthis magister from the northwest Pacific were investigated. In this species, the liver contained a remarkably high amount of lipids, which were characterized by high percentage of diacyl glyceryl ethers and triglycerides. On the contrary, the lipids of the mantle, ovary and stomach contents were low in the above types of lipids but high in phospholipids. Besides this, the stomach content lipids also consisted of large amounts of wax esters. Alkyl glyceryl ethers originated from diacyl glyceryl ethers of the examined tissues and stomach contents were very similar in composition; the most abundant component was chimyl alcohol followed by selachyl alcohol. Of the stomach content lipids, fatty alcohols derived from the wax ester were constituted mainly of 16:0,18:1,20:1 and 22:1 alcohols. Differences were found in the percentage of the component fatty acids of the total lipids among the examined tissues and stomach contents. It was found that the diacyl glyceryl ethers were in an unusually high concentration in the livers at various growth stages of B. magister studied. Thus it was postulated that these ether-linked lipids are probably biosynthesized via some of the dietary fatty alcohols, which would be a possible origin of the alkyl moiety of the compounds, rather than as a direct accumulation from dietary sources. © 1987, The Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. All rights reserved.