Stability of fatty acid composition in seal blubber during long-term storage

Marine Ecology Progress Series

Ylva Lind¹  Olle Karlsson¹  Michael Walton¹  Karl Lundstr#xf6m¹  Britt-Marie B#xe4cklin¹  Suzanne M. Budge¹ 

关键词: Fatty acid composition;    Long-term storage;    Blubber;    Grey seal;    Baltic Sea;   

DOI  :  10.3354/meps09769

学科分类：海洋学与技术

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

ABSTRACT: This study was performed to evaluate the stability of the fatty acid (FA) composition of blubber from Baltic grey seals Halichoerus grypus archived at −25°C in the Swedish Environmental Specimen Bank (SESB). Possible alterations of FA compositions with storage time and temperature were evaluated. Blubber from 5 seals was kept at +2°C and at −20°C and sampled for up to 6 mo and 33 mo, respectively. Furthermore, FA profile stability was evaluated in blubber stored in the SESB for 4 and 6 yr. This was done by re-sampling and re-analyzing blubber samples from SESB. In both parts of the study, a principal component analysis was performed on 48 FAs comprising 98 to 99% of the total FAs in blubber of Baltic grey seals. We found no indication of a critically altered FA composition, neither in blubber stored at +2°C for 6 mo nor in blubber stored at −20°C for 33 mo. The re-analysis of samples stored in SESB for ~4 to 6 yr only differed for a few FAs in some samples. The most remarkable differences were a slight increase in some long-chain unsaturated FAs (18:2n-6, 20:3n-3, 20:4n-3, 22:4n-3). As an increase in long-chain polyunsaturated FAs due to storage is highly unlikely, we believe that this is probably more due to the sampling technique than to a critically altered FA composition due to storage. Our results suggest that archived seal blubber may be safely used in retrospective analyses of diet using an FA signature analysis technique.

【 授权许可】

Unknown