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The sterol composition of some shark livers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2009

R. J. Morris ,
J. A. Ballantine  and
J. C. Roberts
R. J. Morris
Affiliation:
Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, Wormley, Godalming, Surrey, GU8 5UB
J. A. Ballantine
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Institute of Marine Studies, University College of Swansea, Swansea, SA2 8PP
J. C. Roberts
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Institute of Marine Studies, University College of Swansea, Swansea, SA2 8PP
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Abstract

The results of detailed sterol analyses on the livers of seven species of sharks are presented. The sharks appear to have a very specific requirement for cholesterol as their sole component sterol (> 99 % total sterols), which several species of bony fish do not. In fact, from their sterol composition, sharks appear more similar to terrestrial vertebrate classes than bony fish. If, as has been suggested, sterol composition is a measure of evolutionary advancement, then this work presents biochemical evidence that sharks are not as primitive as has sometimes been assumed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , May 1983 , pp. 295 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1983

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References

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