Level and Composition of Wax Esters in the Different Tissues of Deep-Sea Teleost Fish Laemonema longipes

Abstract

The lipid class compositions of different tissues of the deep-sea teleost fish Laemonema longipes from the northwestern Pacific Ocean were investigated.
The liver of this species was found to contain a remarkably high amount of lipids, which were characterized by high quantities of wax esters and a low proportion of triglycerides. Conversely, the flesh and ovary lipids were low in the above lipid types but high in phospholipids. The wax esters of liver lipids were found to consist mostly of C₃₈, C₄₀, C₄₂ and C₃₆ components for the carbon chain length. The principal fatty alcohol moieties of liver wax esters were: 22:1, 20:1 and 16:0, which were very similar in composition to those isolated from total lipids of the flesh and ovary. On the other hand, the fatty acids of liver wax esters contained a high percentage of monoenes, consisting of 18:1, 16:1, 20:1 and 22:1 acids, and a significant amount of polyenes, particularly 20:5 ω 3 acid.
The fatty alcohol/fatty acid combination of the L. longipes liver wax esters was supported by the assumption of a random fashion; the relationship between the calculated and experimentally found wax esters based on carbon chain lengths was very close in composition.