Food Lipids: Sources, Health Implications, and Future Trends - Chapter 3: Marine sources: Fish, shellfish, and algae

The sea is an important source of lipids that, in addition, provides energy to marine organisms, converts them into a source of bioactive molecules with promising biological activities. The lipid composition and its contents depend on many factors, including species, size, age, gender, habitat temperature, and season. This chapter reviews the total fat contents in different marine organisms, as well as the fatty acid composition, and the factors that condition both contents and composition. In marine organisms, a large amount of diverse fatty acids is found, but without a doubt, the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) such as eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids stand out. Along with these oils, unusual very long-chain PUFAs can be also identified but in a much lower concentration.