en تخصصي Special Original article Original article <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="line-height:115%">Background:</span></b><span style="line-height:115%"> Few studies have been published about the quality of freshwater fish in Algeria. This study determined the chemical composition and the fatty acid of six species of freshwater fish cultivated in the North region of Algeria (Nile tilapia, red tilapia, common carp, Algerian barb, crucian carp, and mirror carp) as well as the nutritional quality of the lipids in these freshwater fish species. </span></span><br> <span style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="line-height:115%">Methods:</span></b><span style="line-height:115%"> One hundred and ten freshwater fish were randomly caught in the spring of 2021 from Achor Ali farm (Jijel), Beni-Haroun Dam (Mila), and EL-Agrem Dam (Jijel) from Algeria. Moisture, ash, protein, lipid, and fatty acids were measured according to standard laboratory procedures and protocols of previous studies. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA (XLSTAT 2014), and the pair wise comparison of the means was done by Tukeys test at the 5% significance level (<i>p</i><0.05).</span></span><br> <span style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="line-height:115%">Results:</span></b><span style="line-height:115%"> Regarding freshwater fish species, fatty acid profiles were discovered to have 38.94 to 57.75% Saturated Fatty Acids (SFAs), 29.35 to 46.63% Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFAs), and 6.79 to 26.55% Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs). Common carp was a rich resource of Eicosapentaenoic Acid and Docosahexaenoic Acid (EPA+DHA) (5.38%); the highest concentration of &omega;-3 was recorded in crusian carp (10.63%); and Nile tilapia contained significant levels of </span><span lang="FR"><span style="line-height:115%">&omega;</span></span><span style="line-height:115%">-6 PUFA. Results demonstrated that the examined freshwater fish species appeared to have a good nutritional value and be a source of important fatty acids with positive effects on consumer health. On the other hand, results revealed low levels of PUFAs. </span></span><br> <span style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="line-height:115%">Conclusion: </span></b><span style="line-height:115%">The examined freshwater fish species appeared to have a good nutritional value, but, it is important to provide diets rich in fatty acids, in particular PUFAs, to these freshwater fish to improve the nutritional quality of their lipids.</span><br> <br> <b><span lang="FR"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="color:black">DOI:</span></span></span></b><span lang="FR"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="color:black"> 10.18502/jfqhc.10.3.13642</span></span></span></span></span></span></div> Fatty Acids, Unsaturated, Tilapia, Docosahexaenoic Acid, Eicosapentaenoic Acid, Algeria 115 122 http://jfqhc.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1567-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 E. Sabba asma.sabba@umc.edu.dz 0000-0002-8468-4088 Yes Bioqual Laboratory, INATAA, Brothers Mentouri Constantine University 1, Rue Aïn El Bey, 25000, Constantine, Algeria, Algerian Center for Technical and Scientific Research in Physico-Chemical Analysis (CRAPC) Y. Boudida No Bioqual Laboratory, INATAA, Brothers Mentouri Constantine University 1, Rue Aïn El Bey, 25000, Constantine, Algeria A. Boudjellal No Bioqual Laboratory, INATAA, Brothers Mentouri Constantine University 1, Rue Aïn El Bey, 25000, Constantine, Algeria