Transfer of fatty acids from female seal blubber via milk to pup blubber |
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Authors: | O Grahl-Nielsen M O Hammill C Lydersen S Wahlstrøm |
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Institution: | Department of Chemistry, University of Bergen, Norway. Otto.Grahl-Nielsen@kj.uib.no |
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Abstract: | Fatty acids were determined by gas chromatography followed by principal component analysis (PCA) and soft independent modelling
of class analogy (SIMCA) in the blubber of 18 female grey seals, Halichoerus grypus, in their milk and in the blubber of their 1-week-old nursing pups. Large individual differences were observed in both blubber
and milk content of fatty acids. The fatty acid composition of the milk was systematically different from the composition
in maternal blubber, with higher relative amounts of the saturated acids, the monounsaturated with 20 carbon atoms and the
n3 polyunsaturated, except 18:3n3. The composition of the fatty acids in the blubber of the pups was different from that of
the milk. The same fatty acids that were enriched in the milk were depleted in the blubber of the pups. Therefore the fatty
acid composition in the blubber of the pups was similar to that in the adults, although not identical. The results from this
investigation imply that the composition of the fatty acids in the blubber of female seals and in the blubber of their pups
cannot be determined directly by analysis of fatty acid composition of milk.
Accepted: 16 February 2000 |
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Keywords: | Grey seals Mother-pup pairs Multivariate statistics Fatty acid composition |
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