Comparative Study of Fatty Acid Characterisation of Cage Cultured and Captured Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in Brackish Water

Suggested Bibliographic Reference: Challenging New Frontiers in the Global Seafood Sector: Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, July 11-15, 2016. Compiled by Ann L. Shriver. International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET), Corvallis, 2016.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.In furtherance to the on-going studies on what is responsible for the fatty acid composition of the most widely cultured fish (Clarias gariepinus) in Nigeria, this work see to evaluate the comparative study of the cage cultured and captured catfish in brackish water of Ibeju-lekki area of Lagos State. Nigeria. Lipids in the muscles of the cultured and wild catfish were extracted using the Bligh & Dyer method of lipid extraction. Extracted lipids were then analyzed by gas chromatography to determine the composition and relative abundance of the fatty acids present. The percentage of total saturated fatty acids (SFA) was higher in the muscles of the cage cultured catfish (33.19%) than in the muscles of the wild catfish (22.86%). The percentage of total mono unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) was however higher in the muscle of wild catfish (73.62%) than in the muscle of the cage cultured catfish (51.47%). The poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were 15.35% and 3.54% in the cage cultured and wild catfish respectively. The cultured African catfish also had more omega-3 (PUFA) than the wild ones (10.32% to 1.41% respectively). The cage cultured specie contain essential fatty acids particularly eicosapentaenoic acids and docosahexaenoic acids for promoting good health and prevention of cardio-vascular diseases in humans. This shows that cultured catfish can compete well with counterparts from the wild which refutes Anisulowo, 2012 that says cultured catfish has bad fats.\ud Key words: Comparative study, fatty acids, cage cultured, captured, Clarias gariepinus and brackish water