Seasonal variation of tocopherol (Toc) contents in several tissues of carp was investigated on the cultured fish caught in March, July and December and the wild one in March by high performance liquid chromatography. Also, the contents of vitamin A and D in the same tissue were compared with Tocs.
1) In the composition of Tocs in carp, the percentage of non-α-Toc in the tissue rich in fat was higher than that in the lean tissue.
2) The contents of Tocs in carp tissues had a tendency to increase with the gonadial development, and especially the tendency was remarkable in the gonad and fatty tissue surrounding brain of the wild fish, which had the greatest gonad. In the above two tissues of the carp in March, corresponding to a gonadial developing season for spawn, significant differences in the contents of Tocs between male and female were observed, but such difference was not observedin any tissue of the carp in July and December, out season of spawning.
3) The contents of vitamin A and D in tissues were suggested to have essentially no seasonal variation, but the contents of two vitamins in tissues of the cultured fish in March were generally lower than that of the other three groups.
In any tissue of carp, no correlation between the content of Tocs and that of vitamin A or D was observed.
