Interpopulation variation in horse mackerel, Megalaspis cordyla (Linnaeus, 1758), along Indian coast: a chemometric study based on fatty acid profile of heart tissue

Abstract

Populations of Megalaspis cordyla (horse mackerel) from four areas, two each from the east (Digha and Mandapam regions in the Bay of Bengal) and west (Cochin and Mumbai regions of the Arabian Sea) coasts of the Indian peninsula were studied using a chemometric method based on fatty acid composition of their heart tissue. Heart tissue from the specimens from each location was collected and preserved, analyzed by the fatty acid profile method, comprising methanolysis, gas chromatography, and multivariate statistics. The profile showed difference between southern and northern populations in both the coasts. Trend was more obvious in the case of saturated fatty acids and poly unsaturated fatty acids; the southern population with high content of saturated fatty acids and the northern populations with high content of poly unsaturated fatty acids.