Abstract

The spottail pinfish, a common protandrous fish in offshore reefs of North Carolina, was selected as a model to test the hypothesis that muscle tissue changes in percent lipid content, especially the n-3 fatty acids, during its spawning periodo The spottail pinfish has increased in popularity as a recreational fish primarily due to the disappearance of more desirable species. We examined the percent fat and the ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids in spottail pinfish to determine if there is a seasonal shift that may be related to reproduction. Fish collected during the spawning peak in April (N=II) were compared to fish from the months of May, June, July, September and October (N=38) in 1998. Our results indicated that the percent lipid in muscle tissue was not significantiy different during these time periods and the ratio of n-6:n-3 did not vary much seasonally with the exception of one female collected in May possessing the highest ratio and possibly representing a recent sex change.

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