Abstract:The fatty acid contents in muscle of eight species of needlefish were determined and compared for the development and utilization of the marine resource. In autumn and winter, 8 species of needlefish were collected from Zhanjiang sea area, including Hemiramphus far, Hemiramphus lutkei, Hyporhamp-hus dussumieri, Hyporhamphus limbatus, Hyporhamphus quoyi, Tylosurus acus, Strongylura anastomella and Strongylura strongylura. The moisture and crude lipid of muscle were determined by national standard method and the content of fatty acid in muscle was determined by capillary gas chromatography. The results showed that moisture of the muscle of needlefish was 66.7%~73.2% and crude lipid was 2.04%~2.78% dry weight. The contents of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in muscle were 32.10%~42.97%, 11.99%~35.51%, 29.37%~43.92%, respectively. The content of n-3 fatty acids (21.19%~38.98%) and n-6 fatty acids (5.44%~18.24%) in 8 species of needlefish were high and have higher fatty acid nutritional value and medicinal value, among which the content of H. quoyi and T. acus EPA+DHA+DPA were 35.55% and 33.31%, respectively. The DPA contents in H. dussumieri and T. acus were high, reaching 8.43% and 7.31%, respectively.