ABSTRACTEdible shrimp (Penaeus aztecus) tissue contains approximately 1.2% extractable lipids, the majority of which are phospholipids. Data from the gravimetric quantitation of lipid classes isolated by column chromatography indicated that phosphatidyl choline was the predominant phospholipid and cholesterol the predominant neutral lipid in edible shrimp tissue. Fatty acid distribution data indicated that sphingomyelins contained the greatest percent by weight of unsaturated fatty acids while cholesterol esters contained the greatest proportion of saturated fatty acids. Enzymatic hydrolysis followed by gas liquid chromatography of phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, and phosphatidyl serine indicated that fatty acids located at the β position were more highly unsaturated than those at the α positio