The objective of the present study was to perform GC-MS fatty acid profiling with quantification, determine the total lipid content, and evaluate fatty acid (FA) based nutritional quality indices in lipids from forty-one commercially important marine fish species of Sri Lanka. The lipid content varied considerably both within and among the studied fish species, with mean values ranging from 0.54% to 9.28%. The saturated fatty acid (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) contents ranged from 184.97 to 388.89, 76.57 to 288.90, and 96.98 to 560.59 mg g⁻¹ of total lipids, respectively. Among the PUFAs, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was the predominant FA in all studied species, while eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) was the second most abundant FA in most samples. The lipid quality indices, namely PUFA/SFA, omega-3/omega-6, omega-6/omega-3 ratios, atherogenicity index, and thrombogenic index, of these species may offer significant health benefits, particularly by reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Hierarchical clustering based on lipid amount, omega-3 content, DHA+EPA, and fish lipid quality, revealed that the studied fish species were grouped into five distinct clusters. Species such as Sardinella longiceps, Selar crumenophthalmus , and Sardinella gibbosa from Group 1, along with Acanthocybium solandri, Amblygaster sirm, Thryssa setirostris, Carangoides fulvoguttatus, Coryphaena hippurus, Sardinella albella, Decapterus macrosoma, Pristipomoides typus , and Stolephorus sp . from Group 2, were identified as potential candidates for fish oil production. These findings provide valuable insights and serve as a benchmark for evaluating the nutritional quality of marine fish in Sri Lanka in terms of their FA composition.
Jayakody et al. (Mon,) studied this question.