The Influence of Season on the Gonad Index and Biochemical Composition of the Sea Urchin Paracentrotus lividus from the Golf of Tunis

Table 1

Paracentrotus lividus. Variation of fatty acid composition of sea urchin gonad during the months of the year (from September 2003 to August 2004). Values are means (𝑛=6, ±SD) of gonad samples pooled from 40 sea urchins in each case. Different letters (a, b, c, and d) indicate significant differences for data in the same column.

Fatty acid

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

C14:0

6.84 ± 1.50^ac

6.45 ± 0.4^a

5.93 ± 0.18^a

6.13 ± 0.24^a

5.83 ± 0.29^a

4.53 ± 0.54^b

5.87 ± 1.56^a

5.47 ± 0.12^ab

6.06 ± 0.59^a

7.08 ± 1.5^c

7.08 ± 1.5^c

8.17 ± 0.5^d

C15:0

0.70 ± 0.07^a

1.12 ± 0.07^a

1.01 ± 0.1^a

0.96 ± 0.01^a

1.00 ± 0.05^a

0.80 ± 0.07^a

0.70 ± 0.07^a

0.53 ± 0.27^a

0.69 ± 0.00^a

0.65 ± 0.07^a

0.65 ± 0.06^a

0.70 ± 0.00^a

C16:0

17.52 ±.18^a

17.29 ± 0.36^a

15.37 ± 1.33^b

14.48 ± 3.42^c

10.77 ± 4.67^d

12.76 ± 0.7^e

14.10 ± 2.12^c

13.68 ± 0.44^c

14.50 ± 0.81^bc

15.18 ± 2.18^b

16.11 ± 0.56^b

17.30 ± 0.16^a

C17:0

0.69 ± 0.16^a

0.45 ± 0.01^a

0.37 ± 0.06^a

0.35 ± 0.01^a

0.40 ± 0.2^a

0.54 ± 0.76^a

0.76 ± 0.29^ab

1.31 ± 0.11^b

0.36 ± 0.23^a

1.41 ± 0.16^b

1.25 ± 0.2^b

0.73 ± 0.01^ab

C18:0

1.84 ± 0.19^a

3.02 ± 0.2^b

2.83 ± 0.63^b

2.43 ± 0.25^ab

2.34 ± 0.29^ab

1.98 ± 0.15^a

2.16 ± 0.25^a

2.05 ± 0.07^a

2.08 ± 0.06^a

2.25 ± 0.19^a

2.11 ± 0.18^a

1.84 ± 0.08^a

C19:0

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

C20:0

0.40 ± 0.01^a

0.38 ± 0.02^a

0.45 ± 0.04^a

0.44 ± 0.00^a

0.22 ± 0.23^a

0.39 ± 0.03^a

0.39 ± 0.04^a

0.35 ± 0.02^a

0.34 ± 0.04^a

0.37 ± 0.01^a

0.37 ± 0.01^a

0.40 ± 0.01^a

C22:0

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

∑ SFA

27.99 ± 0.45^a

28.72 ± 0.63^ad

25.96 ± 0.13^b

24.79 ± 1.36^b

22.56 ± 0.52^c

21.00 ± 2.36^c

21.07 ± 0.41^c

23.38 ± 1.36^b

24.04 ± 0.25^b

26.94 ±2.47^ab

27.57 ± 2.36^a

29.14 ± 1.69^d

C14:1

0.25 ± 0.07^a

0.19 ± 0.09^a

0.12 ± 0.07^a

0.22 ± 0.23^a

0.20 ± 0.12^a

0.19 ± 0.02^a

0.44 ± 1.16^a

0.35 ± 0.03^a

0.28 ± 0.03^a

0.51 ± 0.07^a

0.40 ± 0.00^a

0.25 ± 0.00^a

C16:1 𝑛−7

2.23 ± 0.05^a

0.44 ± 0.05^b

1.08 ± 0.83^bc

0.29 ± 0.02^b

1.25 ± 0.78^c

2.30 ± 0.52^a

1.50 ± 1.7^c

1.33 ± 0.93^c

0.43 ± 0.13^b

0.56 ± 0.05^b

1.76 ± 0.51^ac

2.68 ± 0.12^a

C18:1 𝑛=9

6.85 ± 0.84^ae

3.19 ± 0.05^b

4.14 ± 1.41^bd

2.39 ± 0.36^c

2.83 ± 0.28^bc

3.01 ± 0.88^b

4.56 ± 0.74^d

5.93 ± 0.17^ae

6.62 ± 0.27^ae

7.01 ± 0.84^e

10.42 ± 4.13^f

11.50 ± 2.13^f

C18:1 𝑛=7

6.51 ± 0.19^a

6.27 ± 0.12^a

5.56 ± 1.3^a

5.77 ± 0.23^a

7.28 ± 0.7^b

3.68 ± 0.12^cd

4.15 ± 0.51^c

3.33 ± 0.22^cd

3.12 ± 0.27^cd

2.88 ± 0.19^d

1.14 ± 0.61^e

0.31 ± 0.01^e

C20:1 𝑛−9

0.00^a

1.04 ± 0.02^b

0.99 ± 0.27^b

1.04 ± 0.12^b

0.83 ± 0.07^b

0.77 ± 0.1^b

1.75 ± 0.3^b

1.36 ± 0.05^b

1.11 ± 0.1^b

1.13 ± 0.27^b

1.13 ± 0.27^b

0.00^a

C22:1 𝑛−11

1.78 ± 0.02^a

1.66 ± 0.05^a

1.99 ± 0.12^a

2.04 ± 0.13^a

1.44 ± 0.04^a

2.47 ± 0.14^a

1.79 ± 0.2^a

1.72 ± 0.1^a

1.89 ± 0.42^a

1.89 ± 0.11^a

1.88 ± 0.13^a

1.78 ± 0.03^a

∑ MUFA

17.63 ± 0.52^a

12.79 ± 0.76^bc

13.88 ± 0.83^bd

11.76 ± 2.10^c

13.83 ± 0.72^bd

12.42 ± 1.36^b

14.19 ± 0.42^d

14.02 ± 0.85^d

13.45 ± 0.1^bd

13.98 ± 0.34^d

16.73 ± 0.78^a

16.52 ± 1.02^a

C18:2 𝑛−6

0.34 ± 0.18^a

1.51 ± 0.26^b

3.14 ± 0.37^c

1.93 ± 0.15^b

2.31 ± 0.15^b

2.09 ± 0.22^b

1.69 ± 0.2^b

1.94 ± 0.07^b

2.30 ± 0.35^b

2.26 ± 0.18^b

0.85 ± 0.33^ab

0.34 ± 0.03^a

C18:3 𝑛−3

2.00 ± 0.83^a

1.86 ± 0.19^a

1.49 ± 0.46^a

2.86 ± 0.96^ab

3.37 ± 0.27^b

4.25 ± 0.6^c

2.28 ± 0.36^a

2.81 ± 0.25

2.81 ± 0.01^ab

1.82 ± 0.23^a

1.82 ± 0.03^a

2.00 ± 0.23^a

C20:2

11.26 ± 0.21^a

10.06 ± 1.37^b

12.22 ± 0.97^c

12.27 ± 2.01^c

9.24 ± 0.21^b

9.22 ± 0.25^be

8.59 ± 1.11^c

7.85 ± 0.11^d

8.77 ± 1.13^ce

9.43 ± 0.21^b

11.48 ± 3.18^a

11.26 ± 1.25^a

C20:3

2.68 ± 0.41^ab

2.58 ± 0.4^a

3.47 ± 0.55^b

3.47 ± 0.35^b

2.83 ± 0.12^ab

2.70 ± 0.31^ab

2.91 ± 0.39^ab

2.75 ± 0.15^ab

2.61 ± 0.29^a

2.59 ± 0.41^a

3.43 ± 0.25^b

3.90 ± 0.25^b

C20:4 𝑛−3

7.91 ± 0.69^a

8.22 ± 0.37^a

8.37 ± 0.45^ab

8.02 ± 1.00^ab

8.62 ± 0.4^ab

7.73 ± 0.41^a

7.66 ± 1.09^a

8.19 ± 0.23^ab

8.05 ± 0.49^ab

7.47 ± 0.69^a

6.01 ± 0.68^c

5.69 ± 0.65^c

EPA C20:5 𝑛−3

16.80 ± 1.48^a

16.05 ± 1.45^ab

15.30 ± 1.69^b

15.46 ± 2.36^b

17.89 ± 0.54^c

19.39 ± 0.85^d

20.93 ± 4.28^e

21.05 ± 0.1^e

16.70 ± 0.93^a

16.17 ± 1.48^a

14.90 ± 0.44^bf

14.59 ± 0.36^f

DHA C22:6 𝑛−3

1.01 ± 0.05^ab

0.78 ± 0.1^a

1.14 ± 0.24^ab

1.28 ± 0.23^ab

0.90 ± 0.09^a

0.57 ± 0.09

1.60 ± 0.2^b

0.47 ± 0.2^a

0.86 ± 0.08^a

1.00 ± 0.07^ab

1.93 ± 0.15^b

2.21 ± 0.25^b

∑ PUFA

42.09 ± 0.54^a

41.06 ± 0.63^ac

45.13 ± 1.02^b

45.30 ± 1.56^b

44.99 ± 0.92^b

45.96 ± 0.56^b

45.66 ± 2.02^b

45.06 ± 0.63^b

42.1 ± 0.7^a

40.74 ± 1.02^cd

40.42 ± 2.13^cd

39.99 ± 0.22^d

C18:1 n = 9/; C18:1 𝑛=7

1.05

0.5

0.74

0.41

0.38

1.22

1.09

1.78

2.12

2.43

9.17

36.67