Total lipid and fatty acid composition of brill eggs Scophthalmus rhombus L. relationship between lipid composition and egg quality

The present study examines the total lipid (TL) and fatty acid (FA) composition in eggs of brill Scophthalmus rhombus L. and the possible relationships with their quality parameters. Wild broodstocks were caught and maintained in captivity until eggs were collected. A lipid characterization of each egg batch was conducted in TL, lipid classes (LC) and FA of TL. The TL content was lower than the values reported for other flatfish species, showing high levels of sterol esters (SE). High viability rates were related to higher lipid reserves. Higher cholesterol (CHO) was linked to higher egg viability, whereas SE could have an opposite effect. Comparison of female quality showed that lipid composition was more related to egg batches than to individual females. However, multivariate analysis did not show a clear correlation between lipid composition and brill egg quality, neither as individual components nor as a whole profile of LC or FA. Our results suggest that some lipid components (phosphatidylcholine, CHO, SE, monounsaturated, eicosapentaenoic acid) could be related to differences in spawning quality, although these were not the only factors involved in these differences. Thus, these lipid components could be considered to be descriptors of the differences found in the rates of brill quality.