Discrimination Among Species And Stocks Of Redfish (Sebastes Viviparus, S

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The composition of fatty acids in selected tissues of three redfish species, two populations of cod and two populations of herring was determined by a chemometric method, consisting of methanolysis, gas chromatography of the resulting fatty acid methyl esters and multivariate, statistical treatment of the analytical data. The two reared stocks of cod from the Faroe Bank and the Faroe Plateau had significantly different fatty acid profiles in total lipids and in phospolipids from heart tissue. This difference is expected to be genetic and free of biotic and abiotic impacts on the fatty acid profiles. The three species of redfish from waters off the Faroe Islands and Norway had significantly different fatty acid profiles in selected tissues. The fatty acid profiles appear to be species specific. The mutual relationship between Sebastes marinus and S. mentella is closer than the relationship between either of them and S. viviparus. The fatty acid profile in the heart tissue of S. mentella from eleven locations in the waters off Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland and from two strata at different depths in the Irminger Sea indicate the presence of four separate stocks of this redfish species in the North East Atlantic Ocean. Herring from the North Sea stock and the stock of Norwegian Spring Spawners were distinguished by way of the fatty acid profile in the filet. A new method for stock identification on the individual level is established.