Content and composition of alkyl glyceryl ethers in liver of gonatid squid Berryteuthis magister from the northwestern Pacific.

Abstract

The content and composition of alkyl glyceryl ethers of liver lipids of the gonatid squid Berryteuthis magister in the northwestern Pacific were investigated. Weight of the livers of thirty specimens of this species accounted for 9.6±3.7% of total body weight; 35.2±15.6% of the liver was lipids. The liver lipids contained significant amounts of unsaponifiables (23.8±4.4%), consisting of 76.5±16.2% alkyl glyceryl ethers and 20.2±15.4% sterols. Alkyl glyceryl ethers originated from the constituent diacyl glyceryl ethers (46.5±17.8%) of the liver lipids. The relationship between the amounts (Y, g) of alkyl glyceryl ethers of liver and liver weight (X, g) was expressed by the following equation: Y=0.002+0.83X (r=0.966, P<0.05). The component alkyl glyceryl ethers were found to consist mostly of saturates (77.8±3.6%) and monoenes (20.0±3.2%) of 14-20 carbon numbers for the alkyl moiety. The principal com-ponents found were: chimyl (16:0, 71.1±4.0%), selachyl (18: 1, 17.0±2.5%), and batyl (18:0, 3.5±1.5%) alcohols. It was concluded that the liver of the gonatid squid species was a good source of alkyl glyceryl ethers having chimyl alcohol as its predominant component. In addition, the component fatty acids of the liver lipids were discussed.