## 2 Results and Discussion
### Fatty Acids Composition  
The species belonging to the genus Codium collected from different locations were investigated for their fatty acids content [45; 46; 47]. The results of of the present study revealed a total of 19 fatty acids (Table 2) in FD-CB.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline
**No** & **Fatty Acids** & **\% \(\pm\) SD** \\ \hline
**1.** & Caprylic acid (C8:0) & 0.055 \(\pm\) 0.007 \\
**2.** & Capric acid (C10:0) & 0.261 \(\pm\) 0.006 \\
**3.** & Lauric acid (C12:0) & 2.106 \(\pm\) 0.000 \\
**4.** & Tridecyclic acid (C13:0) & 0.373 \(\pm\) 0.007 \\
**5.** & Myristic acid (C14:0) & 2.891 \(\pm\) 0.028 \\
**6.** & Palmitic acid (C16:0) & 25.439 \(\pm\) 0.050 \\
**7.** & Palmitoleic acid (C16:1) & 3.514 \(\pm\) 0.025 \\
**8.** & Margaric acid (C17:0) & 0.372 \(\pm\) 0.001 \\
**9.** & Stearic acid (C18:0) & 9.042 \(\pm\) 0.009 \\
**10.** & _trans_-oleic acid + _cis_-oleic acid (C18:1n9f + C18:1n9c) & 36.53 \(\pm\) 0.079 \\
**11.** & Linoleic acid (C18:2n6c) & 11.619 \(\pm\) 0.045 \\
**12.** & \(\gamma\)-linolenic acid (C18:3n6) & 0.362 \(\pm\) 0.001 \\
**13.** & \(\alpha\)-linolenic acid (C18:3n3) & 1.344 \(\pm\) 0.005 \\
**14.** & Arachidic acid (C20:0) & 0.408 \(\pm\) 0.022 \\
**15.** & Paullinic acid (C20:1) & 0.789 \(\pm\) 0.051 \\
**16.** & Arachidonic acid (C20:4n6) & 1.563 \(\pm\) 0.052 \\
**17.** & Eicosatrienoic acid (C20:3n3) & 1.065 \(\pm\) 0.032 \\
**18.** & Behenic acid (C22:0) & 1.365 \(\pm\) 0.025 \\
**19.** & Nervonic acid (C24:1) & 0.887 \(\pm\) 0.002 \\ \hline \multicolumn{3}{c}{Total saturated fatty acids (SFA)} & 42.32 \\ \hline \multicolumn{3}{c}{Total mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA)} & 41.73 \\ \hline \multicolumn{3}{c}{Total poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)} & 15.95 \\ \hline \multicolumn{3}{c}{Total \(\omega\)3 fatty acids} & 2.41 \\ \hline \multicolumn{3}{c}{Total \(\omega\)6 fatty acids} & 13.54 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Fatty acid content of freeze-dried _C. bursa_ (% of total fatty acid content; SD—standard deviation).  
The main fatty acids of FD-CB were oleic acid (C18:1n9), as the dominant, followed by palmitic acid (C16:0), linoleic acid (C18:2n6), and stearic acid (C18:0). The total content of unsaturated fatty acids was higher than saturated reaching 57.68% (including both MUFAs (41.73%) and PUFAs (15.95%)). Generally, for green algae it is a characteristic that the amount of unsaturated fatty acids is higher than saturated fatty acids [47]. Palmitic acid (C16:0) was the main SFA which is in agreement with previous studies [5; 45]. Oleic acid (C18:0) with 36.54% was found as the main MUFA, while linoleic acid (C18:2n6c) was the dominant PUFA with 11.62%. [PERSON] et al. [4] and [PERSON] [48] showed that linolenic acid was the dominant PUFA in _Codium_ species. PUFAs are of great importance for human health due to their activities related to reducing the risk of heart diseases, atherosclerosis, and thrombosis [49]. In the present study, linolenic acid was present in both of the forms, \(\alpha\)-linolenic (\(\omega\)3; C18:3n3) with higher abundance and \(\gamma\)-linolenic (\(\omega\)6; C18:3n6). \(\omega\)6 Fatty acids were present at a higher percentage than \(\omega\)3 fatty acids (Table 2). Although several authors [4; 5; 10] detected hexadecatrienoic (C16:3) acid in _Codium_ species indicating it as chemotaxonomic marker, in the present research C16:3 was not detected in _C. bursa_. [PERSON] et al. [47] also reported that hexadecatrienoic acid was not detected in _C. fragile_. A possible explanation is that the fatty acid content is influenced by geographical location and environment conditions [46]. It must be taken into consideration that the fatty acid composition can vary among different species within the same genus and also within the same species which were collected at different locations in the same season. Moreover, fresh algal samples gave a higher amount of PUFAs than dried samples which can be explained by the susceptibility of PUFAs to oxidation processes [5].