Comparison of wild and farmed meagre, Argyrosomus regius, lipid compositio

The importance of aquaculture to secure the access to quality food for present and future generations is certain. Nevertheless, there is still some prejudice regarding the quality of the food provided by this industry. Having this in mind, this study aimed to compare farmed and wild fish lipid composition of a commercially important Mediterranean speciesmeagre-in terms of lipid classes, fatty acid profiles and DHA position in the TAG. The results showed that farmed fish had twice the fat content of wild fish (2.7 to 1.4%) but had a lower percentage of PUFA (33.0% vs 43.3%), including DHA (9.8% vs 22.7%) and EPA (1.1% vs 2.1%). In the wild fish, lipids were distributed evenly into the lipid classes while, in farmed fish, they consisted mainly of TAG (63.7%). The stereospecific analysis showed that, in both wild and farmed meagre, approximately 50% of DHA were in the sn-2 position, in the TAGs. In conclusion, there are several differences between wild and farmed meagre lipid composition. The differences in the fatty acid profile are most probably related to differences in their diets, with wild meagre showing better PUFA profiles. Nevertheless, wild and farmed fish showed similar nutritional values. enhancing the health benefits of regular consumption of meagre.