Abstract
Brine shrimp Artemia nauplii, an important live food used in aquaculture, were enriched with five marine oil triacylglycerols (TAG) in order to enhance n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) essential for fish larvae. Positional distribution of fatty acids in TAG was determined for both of the enriched Artemia nauplii and dietary marine oils. In all of the enriched Artemia nauplii, docosahexaenoic acid was preferentially located in the sn-1,3 position followed by the sn-2 position. Icosapentaenoic acid was preferentially located in the sn-2 position. Distribution patterns of these fatty acids were not similar to those in dietary TAG of fish oil origin. Positional distribution of HUFA characteristic of marine fish TAG does not appear to hold for Artemia TAG during the HUFA enrichment.
