WHITE STURGEON TISSUE FATTY-ACID COMPOSITIONS ARE AFFECTED BY DIETARYLIPIDS

Juvenile white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) were fed eight isoni trogenous and isoenergetic purified diets for 9 wk to study their abil ity to utilize different dietary lipids. Each diet contained 15% of co ntrol oil mixture (corn oil-cold liver oil-lard, 1:1:1), corn oil, cod liver oil, lard, linseed oil, soybean oil, safflower oil or canola oi l. No significant (P > 0.05) differences in percentage.of body weight increase, feed efficiency or body composition were observed among stur geon fed the different lipids. Tissue fatty acid compositions most sen sitive to dietary lipids were those of muscle and liver, whereas brain fatty acid composition was the least sensitive. Results of this study indicate that it is possible to increase the levels of (n-3) polyunsa turated and highly unsaturated fatty acids in sturgeon muscle by feedi ng the fish lipids high in these fatty acids for 9 wk.