Abstract: The nutrient contents of loach roe and the fatty acid composition of loach roe oil were determined in this work. Loach roe oil was extracted with n-hexane-isopropanol, and its physicochemical indexes and fatty acid composition were determined and compared with the fat of loach meat, crucian carp roe, sturgeon roe, Rana chensinensis egg and breast milk. The results showed that the moisture content of loach roe was 64.69%, crude protein was 24.49%, crude fat was 5.62%, and ash was 1.56%; the density of loach fish oil was 0.901 4 g/mL, refractive index was 1.463 8, iodine value was 105 g I/100 g, and saponification value was 134 mg KOH/g. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis indicated that the unsaturated fatty acid content of loach roe oil was 71.30%, with oleic and linoleic acid accounting for 28.02% and 24.51% of the total amount, respectively. In comparison with loach fish, crucian carp roe and sturgeon roe, the ratio of saturated to monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fatty acids in loach roe oil was roughly the same as that of breast milk fat, which was very close to the golden ratio 1:1:1 of healthy cooking oil, and loach roe and breast milk had almost the same fatty acid composition. Thus, loach roe has great development and utilization potential.

Key words: loach, nutritive component, roe oil, fatty acid