Fatty Acid Profiles in Wild Axillary Seabream (Pagellus acarne) versus Cage-Aggregated and Cage-Farmed Fish with Reference to Nutritional Contribution for Human Consumers

Abstract

Fatty acid profiles of cage-farmed axillary seabream (Pagellus acarne) werecompared with their wild representatives aggregated around the cage system andthose from a distance area far from the fish farm. Wild fish contained higher levels ofpolyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; 36.47 g/100 g lipid) than the cage-aggregated(30.16 g/100 g lipid) or cage-farmed fish (29.20 g/100 g lipid). However, the mostsalient difference between wild and farmed-fish was the fat content with two-timeshigher levels in the latter (7.70% versus 3.05%). This resulted in a higher nutritionalcontribution of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), whichtotally covered the recommendations of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) withhigher rate in cage-farmed (140%, CFF) and cage-aggregated axillary seabream (130%,CAF) compared to the wild populations of P. acarne from distant area (99%, WCF). As aresult, all fish either farmed, cage-aggregated or wild-caught individuals met theminimum nutritional contribution for EPA+DHA in the order of CFF > CAF > WCF.