Abstract:
Liver of cartilaginous chondrichthian fish comprises of poly-unsaturated fatty acids. The
extraction of oil from liver of such fish remains affordable. The current study was conducted to
analyse the proximate lipid profile and the chemistry of the Dasyatis sephen liver oil. Gas-
Liquid Chromatography (GLC) was utilized to determine the fatty acid profiles. The lipid level
of Dasyatis sephen liver oil was found to be 69.54 % (w/w) which was higher than the same
from the Dasyatis pastinaca (58.27%) and Dasyatis violacea (57.33%). The total saturated fatty
acid percentage was 44.2 among which palmitic acid (C16) was predominant (35.0%). Notably,
unsaturated fatty acid levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid
(22:6n-3) were at 0.5 % and 0.6 % respectively. Physio-chemical properties like moisture content,
colour, specific gravity, peroxide value, and carboxylic acid composition were below the
tolerable commonplace. Results show that Dasyatis sephen liver which is locally-available and
currently wasted resource, has the potential to be used in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical
industries.
