Fatty acid profiles of marine red alga Gracilaria spp (Rhodophyta, Gigartinales)

Species of Gracilaria from Gulf of Mannar were analyzed for their fatty acid composition. The major fatty acids such as myristic acid, myristoleic acid, palmatic acid, palmitoleic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid were analyzed by gas liquid chromatography. The qualitative and the quantitative distribution of above fatty acids exhibited wide variation among the species of different habitat. The fatty acid content of the species collected from the same locality also showed quantitative variation depending on their distribution and the availability of light intensity to the particular species.