Abstract
<jats:p>Fish is an essential food for a healthy human diet, due to its nutritional quality, being rich in essential amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, minerals and vitamins. It is an easily digestible food. Fish is also an important source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), especially essential fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These n-3 fatty acids are considered indispensable for human health, having a protective role against several conditions such as colon cancer, cardiovascular diseases and immune system disorders. More and more consumers are aware of their benefits in preventing, improving and slowing the progression of several diseases. For several countries, pike perch (Sander lucioperca) is an important species for aquaculture due to its rapid growth rate, high nutritional value (rich in DHA, EPA, essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals) but also its economic importance. The values of polyunsaturated fatty acids in pike perch ranged from 32.37%–37.05%.</jats:p>