as indicators of food quality

Lipid classes and fatty acid composition of three commercially important freshwater fish species Oreochromis mossambicus (Mozambique tilapia), Clarias gariepinus (African catfish) and Cyprinus carpio (carp) obtained from an aquaculture, dif-ferent river systems and fish markets from different provinces in South Africa were investigated. Fatty acids were extracted from the fish fillets through the Folch extraction method (using chloroform: methanol at the ratio of 2:1). Generally, tilapia fish species was found to be the richest in fatty acid composition. In all fish species analysed, palmitic acid (16:0) was found to be the most abundant fatty acid ranging from 18.24 to 21.84%. Appreciable quantities of essential polyunsaturated fatty acid such as docosahexaenoic (DHA) (22:6 n-3, 3.92 to 6.16%), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (20:5 n-3, 1.91 to 2.92%) and arachi