Lipids in Marine Ecosystems

Table 1

Fatty acid designations, names, molar masses, and some recent uses as biomarkers. Fatty acid notation gives the ratio of carbon atoms to double bonds. The elution order is that for a GC column with a polyethylene glycol phase. Trivial names are given for most unique fatty acid isomers; otherwise, their systematic names are given. Molar masses are given for fatty acid methyl esters which are useful for the calculation of mol% composition required by some journals and necessary for the calculation of mean chain length, double bond number, and molecular weight [80]. Biomarker references are taken from the past decade.

	Fatty acid name	Molar mass of FAME	Biomarker for	Recent; references
14:0	Myristic	242.40	Proteobacteria (Moritella)/Diatoms/Prymnesiophytes	[81, 82]
TMTD	Trimethyltridecanoic	270.45
14:1	Tetradecenoic	240.39	Proteobacteria (Colwellia, Moritella)	[81]
i15:0	Methyltetradecanoic	256.43	Bacteria	[83]
ai15:0	Methyltetradecanoic	256.43	Bacteria	[83]
15:0	Pentadecanoic	256.43	Phytoplankton	[84]
15:1	Pentadecenoic	254.41	Bacteria	[85]
i16:0	Methylpentadecanoic	270.45
ai16:0	Methylpentadecanoic	270.45	Bacteria	[85]
Pristanic	Tetramethylpentadecanoic	312.53
16:0	Palmitic	270.45
16:1𝜔11	Hexadecenoic	268.43
16:1𝜔9	Hexadecenoic	268.43
16:1𝜔7	Palmitoleic	268.43	Mangrove/Diatoms/Bacteria	[83]
16:1𝜔 5	Hexadecenoic	268.43	Bacteria	[83]
i17:0	Methylhexadecanoic	284.48	Bacteria	[83]
ai17:0	Methylhexadecanoic	284.48	Bacteria	[83]
16:2𝜔4	Hexadecadienoic	266.42	Bacteria	[83]
Phytanic	Tetramethylhexadecanoic	326.55
17:0	Margaric	284.48	Bacteria	[82]
16:3𝜔4	Hexadecatrienoic	264.39
17:1	Heptadecenoic	282.46	Bacteria	[84]
16:4𝜔3	Hexadecatetraenoic	262.39
16:4𝜔1	Hexadecatetraenoic	262.39	Diatoms	[82]
18:0	Stearic	298.51
18:1𝜔11	Octadecenoic	296.49
18:1𝜔9	Oleic	296.49	Deep-sea fish/Crustaceans/Macroalgae/Mangrove/Carnivory	[82, 83]
18:1𝜔7	Vaccenic	296.49	Bacteria	[83]
18:1𝜔6	Octadecenoic	296.49	Bacteria	[83]
18:1𝜔5	Octadecenoic	296.49
18:2a	Octadecadienoic	294.48
18:2b	Octadecadienoic	294.48
18:2𝜔6	Linoleic; LA	294.48	Mangrove/Seagrass/Macroalgae/Vascular plants	[83]
18:2𝜔4	Octadecadienoic	294.48	Bacteria	[83]
18:3𝜔6	𝛾-linolenic; GLA	292.46	Macroalgae	[83]
19:0	Nonadecanoic	312.54	(N.b. can be difficult to separate from 18:3ω6)
18:3𝜔4	Octadecatrienoic	292.46
18:3𝜔3	𝛼-linolenic; ALA	292.46	Mangrove/Seagrass/Vascular plants	[83]
18:4𝜔3	Stearidonic; OTA	290.43	Cryptophytes/Haptophytes/Dinoflagellates/Cryptomonads/Seagrass/Kelp	[83]
18:4𝜔1	Octadecatetraenoic	290.43
20:0	Arachidic	326.56
18:5𝜔3	Octadecapentaenoic	288.42	Dinoflagellates	[81]
20:1𝜔11	Gadoleic	324.54	Copepods	[83]
20:1𝜔9	Gondoic	324.54	Copepods	[83]
20:1𝜔7	Eicosenoic	324.54
20:2𝛼	Eicosadienoic	322.53
20:2𝛽	Eicosadienoic	322.53
20:2𝜔6	Eicosadienoic	322.53
20:3𝜔6	Dihomo-γ-linolenic	320.51
21:0	Heneicosanoic	340.59
20:4𝜔6	Arachidonic; ARA	318.50	Protozoa and microeukaryotes/red algae/Kelp	[83]
20:3𝜔3	Eicosatrienoic	320.51
20:4𝜔3	Eicosatetraenoic	318.50	Fungi/Protozoa/Algae	[83]
20:5𝜔3	Eicosapentaenoic; EPA	316.48	Diatoms and brown and red macroalgae	[83]
22:0	Behenic	354.61	Terrestrial plants	[86]
22:1𝜔11(13)	Docosenoic	352.60	Zooplankton	[85]
22:1𝜔9	Erucic	352.60	Zooplankton	[85]
22:1𝜔7	Docosenoic	352.60
22:2NMIDa	Docosadienoic	350.58
22:2NMIDb	Docosadienoic	350.58
21:5𝜔3	Heneicosapentaenoic	330.51
23:0	Tricosanoic	368.64
22:4𝜔6	Adrenic	346.55
22:5𝜔6	Osbond; 𝜔6DPA	344.53
22:4𝜔3	Docosatetraenoic	346.55
22:5𝜔3	Clupanodonic; DPA	344.53
24:0	Lignoceric	382.66	Mangrove/terrestrial plants	[87]
22:6𝜔3	Docosahexaenoic; DHA	342.51	Dinoflagellates/zooplankton	[83]
24:1	Tetracosanoic	380.65	Zooplankton	[87]

ai: anteiso methyl-branched, DPA: docosapentaenoic acid, i: iso-methyl branched, NMID: nonmethylene interrupted dienoic, OTA: octadecatetraenoic acid.