Lipid content and fatty acid composition of the liver from the rajiforms Urotrygon chilensis, Urobatis halleri, Rhinobatos glaucostigma, Rhinoptera steindachneri and Dasyatis dipeteura captured in Sinaloa, México

The lipid content and fatty acid composition of the liver oil from the ray fish species Urotrygon chilensis, Urobatis halleri, Rhinobatos glaucostigma, Rhinoptera steindachneri and Dasyatis dipterura, rajiforms captured in the State of Sinaloa, México, was examined, and the variation in the fatty acid composition determined by multivariate analysis. Total lipid content in their liver was relatively high, ranging between 30.67 - 46.41%, the highest observed in D. dipterura. These species showed important concentrations of n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids (EPA+DHA= 4.79 - 14.47 g/100 g of liver oil), both provide health and medical benefits, including the reduction in the risk of death from coronary heart disease. The atherogenicity (0.93 - 1.53) and thrombogenicity (0.31 - 0.53) indexes were noticeably low, supporting the evidence of their high quality for cardiovascular disease prevention. Variation in the fatty acid composition, determined by multivariate analysis, showed the separation of the five species group means is fully explained in the two-dimensional discriminant space acounting for 83.34% of the dispersion. In conclusion, ray fish liver oil can be considered an important and interesting alternative to fish oil as a source of EPA and DHA.