Changes in the Fatty Acid Composition of Short Neck Clam with Reference to Environmental Mud Temperature

Abstract

The fatty acid compositions of the total, polar and non-polar lipids in the short neck clam (Tapes philippinarum) muscle sampled from August of 1971 to January of 1972 were determined by gas-chromatography. In the total lipid as well as in both of the fractions, an increasing tendency, in accordance with decreases in temperature off the environmental mud, was found in the compositional percentage of poly-unsaturated acids such as C_22:6; however a decreasing tendency was found in the saturated and monoenoic acids such as C_16:0 and C_18:1. It is probable that these results are due to the direct influence of temperature on fatty acid metabolism and less probable that they are due to an indirect influence through the food chain.