THE POTENTIAL IDENTIFICATION OF THE GEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN OF LOBSTER EGGSFROM VARIOUS WILD STOCKS BASED ON FATTY-ACID COMPOSITION

The fatty acids of lipids from eggs of five lobsters (Homarus american us) collected at Brown's Bank (offshore), Lobster Bay (near shore), an d Hunt's Point (near shore) were analyzed to determine whether composi tional patterns might be used to distinguish offshore from nearshore l obsters. Offshore samples had a higher content of monoenoic fatty acid s, lower levels of 20:5n-3 and higher levels of 22:6n-3 than near-shor e samples. All Hunt's Point samples contained about twice as much 20:4 n-6 (4.81 +/- 1.48%) as samples from other locations (2.05 +/- 0.53% a nd 2.85 +/- 0.75% for Lobster Bay and Brown's Bank, respectively). Sim ilarly, the total percentages of n-6 fatty acids of Hunt's Point lobst er eggs were significantly higher than samples from the other two loca tions (8.13 +/- 1.31% vs. 4.28 +/- 0.49% and 5.11 +/- 1.08%). The cont ent of 18:1n-9, 20:1n-5, 20:2n-6, 20:4n-6 and 21:5n-3 differed signifi cantly among subsamples from different geographic locations. Only with 21:5n-3 was there no overlap in the percentage content between Lobste r Bay lobsters and lobsters from the other two locations. Although no fatty acid was specific enough to distinguish eggs from any one locati on, discriminant analysis of fatty acids proved effective in identifyi ng offshore from near-shore lobsters.