Lipid metabolism in destalked prawn Penaeus japonicus: Induced maturation and accumulation of lipids in the ovaries.

Abstract

This paper presents the effects of destalking on the ovarian maturation and lipid compositions of the prawn Penaeus japonicus. The bilateral extirpation of eyestalks induced the ovarian maturation and increased the ovarian lipids with a concomitant decrease in the hepatopancreatic lipids. The increase in ovarian lipids was ascribed mainly to that in triglycerides (TG), phosphatidylethanol-amine, and phosphatidylcholine (PC), whereas the decrease in hepatopancreatic lipids was due mainly to that in TG and PC. These results suggest the transfer of body lipid reserves, particularly hepatopancreatic lipids, to the developing ovaries during the induced ovarian maturation of the prawn. The ovarian lipids, especially neutral lipids, of destalked prawns contained higher propor-tions of monoenes such as 16: 1 and 18: 1, and 22: 6ω3 and lower proportions of 20: 4ω6 and 20:5ω3 than those of non-destalked prawns.