The purpose of this work is to quantify lipid classes founded in fillets of "curimatã", Prochilodus cearensis. Four lots of samples, each one containing three specimens, were obtained from retail stores in Fortaleza (Ceará State - Brazil) on March, May, June and July 1998. The total lipids (TL) were fractionated by open column chromatography in neutral lipids (NL), glyceroglycolipids (GL) and glycerophospholipid (PL). The TL was averaged in 3.8% of muscle, on wet mass basis. The dominant lipid class was NL averaging at 75.1% in relation to the TL or 2.9g/100g of fillet. The GL and PL contribution in average with 1.6% (61mg/100g of fillet) and 23.3% (885mg/100g of fillet) of the TL, respectively. The approximate composition had average of 76.3% moisture, 18.6% protein, and 1.3% ash.
freshwater fish; neutral lipids; glycolipids; phospholipids; composition
