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¹ Dicle University, Science and Art Faculty, Department of Biology, 21280 Diyarbakır, Turkey DOI : 10.4194/trjfas.2010.0402 Viewed : 3982 - Downloaded : 3379 The total lipid, fatty acid content of some organs and whole specimen of freshwater mussel Unio elongatulus were investigated. The mussels were collected in July in 2007 from Tigris River, Turkey. Fatty acid content of selected tissues and whole mussel was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In the analyses, predominant fatty acids were C16:0, C16:1ω7, C18:1ω9, C20:1ω9, C20:4ω6 and C20:5ω3. Analyses of selected organs (mantle, gills, foot and whole body) presented different and characteristic fatty acids profiles. In the gills C16:1ω7 (30.2%), C16:0 (17.4%) acids; in the mantle C18:1ω9 (20.3%), C16:0 (25.4%) acids; in the foot C16:0 (20.8%), C16:1ω7 (15.9%), C18:1ω9 (15.4%) acids and in whole body C16:1ω7 (27.6%), C16:0 (23.6%) acids were the most abundant constituents. Also the percentages of C20:4ω6 and C20:5ω3 acids, precursors of eicosanoids, were apparently high in the gills and foot. It is presumed that the chief fatty acids present in a particular organ are related to specific functions of the organ. In all of the tissue analyses, ΣMUFA levels were higher than ΣPUFA and ΣSFA levels. Keywords : Fatty acids, freshwater mussel, Unio elongatulus, Tigris River