Discrimination between two reared stocks of cod (Gadus morhua) from the Faroe Islands by chemometry of the fatty acid composition in the heart tissue

Abstract

The composition of fatty acids in total lipids and in phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine in the heart tissue from two reared stocks of cod (Gadus morhua L.) was determined by a chemometric method, consisting of methanolysis, gas chromatography of the resulting fatty acid methyl esters and multivariate statistical treatment, by principal component analysis, of the analytical data. The two reared stocks of cod from the Faroe Bank and the Faroe Plateau had significantly different fatty acid profiles in all three groups of lipids. This difference is expected to be purely genetic and free of biotic and abiotic impacts on the fatty acid profiles. The observed clear-cut distinction suggests that the method may have the potential to discriminate between the corresponding wild stocks, although possible variation in the fatty acid profile caused by internal and environmental factors must be better understood.