Abstract
Blubbers of four ringed seal subspecies from Lake Saimaa, Lake Ladoga, the Baltic Sea, and Spitsbergen were analyzed for very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLCPUFA; > C22) using gas-liquid chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The VLCPUFA of the blubber oils were mainly n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids--23:5n-3, 24:3n-3, 24:4n-3, 24:5n-3, 24:6n-3, 26:5n-3, 26:6n-3, and 28:7n-3. The largest VLCPUFA components in all populations were 24:5n-3 (0.1-0.2 wt% of total fatty acids) and 24:6n-3 (0.1%), but 24:4n-3 (0.1%) was also prominent in the Baltic specimens. The blubber oils of the freshwater species contained considerably more 24:4n-6 and 24:5n-6 than the blubbers of the marine species. The differences among the VLCPUFA in these subspecies appear to be mainly due to different dietary VLCPUFA.
Published Version
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