Fatty acids in crinoidea and ophiuroidea: Occurrence of all‐ cis ‐6,9,12,15,18,21‐tetracosahexaenoic acid

The fatty acid compositions of lipids from two species of Crinoidea and two species of Ophiuroidea have been investigated with open‐tubular gas chromatography. About 5–10% of tetracosahexaenoic acid was found in total fatty acids from all the samples, and the structure was determined as all‐ cis ‐6,9,12,15,18,21‐tetracosahexaenoic acid [24∶6(n−3)] by 13 C‐NMR of the methyl esters and mass spectrometric analyses of the methyl esters, the pyrrolidides and the ozonolysis products. The 24∶6(n−3) was concentrated in the polar lipids rather than neutral lipids. The n−3 hexaenoic structure suggested chain elongation of 22∶6(n−3) as the source. The 5‐olefinic acids (5−18∶1, 5−20∶1, 5,11‐ and 5,13−20∶2) were low in Crinoidea (0.2–1.3%) but were present in higher levels (2.5–5.2%) in Ophiuroidea. Polyunsaturated acids found other than 24∶6(n−3) were 20∶4(n−6), 20∶5(n−3) and 22∶6(n−3) as major components and 16∶3(n−3), 18∶2(n−6), 18∶3(n−6), 18∶3(n−3), 18∶4(n−3), 20∶2(n−9), 20∶2(n−6), 20∶3(n−6), 20∶3(n−3), 21∶5(n−3) and 22∶5(n−3) as minor components in all the samples.