The fat of the green turtle

THE green turtle (Chelone mydas Linn.) is fairly widely distributed in many parts of the tropics, especially perhaps in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Hornell [1927] states that young green turtles feed on fine confervae and on the leaves of sea-grass (Cymodocea); the adult animals live almost entirely upon this seagrass, but occasionally also on Sargasso weed. They are however occasionally carnivorous, and sometimes eat shellfish, notably immature oysters. The flesh of the turtle contains a certain amount of fat, which is marketed to some extent. The present communication describes the component acids present in a specimen of the fat of green turtle from the Seychelles Islands. The only other detailed study of the fat of which we are aware was made by Tsujimoto [1937], who examined the oil from green turtles taken in the Ogasawara Islands, Japan. Tsujimoto found that oleic acid was the chief constituent, whilst myristic acid was present in fairly large amounts, together with palmitic and stearic acids, small proportions of highly unsaturated acids (C20 and probably C,,), and possibly lauric and hexadecenoic acids. Our results confirm the qualitative statements of Tsujimoto in most respects, btit differ somewhat in that we are able to show that lauric, myristic and palnitic acids are each present in very similar proportions, these three saturated acids together amounting to half of the total fatty acids. The general analytical characteristics of the fat now examined are compared in Table I with those recorded by Tsujimoto [1937] and the Imperial Institute