Differences in tissue fatty acid composition between reared and wild sharpsnout sea bream, Diplodus puntazzo (Cetti, 1777)

The fatty acid composition and lipid content of white muscle, liver and mes enteric fat, in reared v. wild sharpsnout sea bream (Diplodus puntazzo) wer e compared. The mesenteric fat index (100 x mesenteric fat weight/body weig ht) and the lipid contents of both white muscle and liver proved consistent ly higher in farmed v. wild sharpsnout sea bream (79.0 (se 13.1) v. 38.7 (s e 5.1) g/kg, 188.4 (se 30.0) v. 58.2 (se 3.9) g/kg and 27.2 (se 3.7) v. 17. 3 (se 1.9) g/kg, respectively). The higher values of linoleic, eicosapentae noic, docosahexaenoic and n-3 series acids in reared fish muscle make reare d sharpsnout more favourable for human consumption. In reared fish mesenter ic fat, polyunsaturated fatty acids reached higher levels (32.54 (se 0.71) g/100 g total fatty acids than those found in wild fish (26.08 (se 1.38) g/ 100 g total fatty acids or even present in the diet (28.34 g/100 g total fa tty acids). Compared with cultured fish, wild sharpsnout displayed a higher content of n-3 fatty acids in liver fat (31.67 (se 1.13) g/100 g total fat ty acids), but lower in mesenteric fat (20.35 (se 1.41) g/100 g total fatty acids). Atherogenic index values were similar for wild and reared fish in all tissues, while the index of thrombogenicity of muscle and mesenteric fa t (0.353 (se 0.012) and 0.402 (se 0.021) respectively) was significantly in creased in wild fish probably due to the omnivorous habits of the species a nd/or to seasonal food variations. Depending on the time of the year or the season, reared fish could be more suitable for human consumption than wild fish.