Animals living in cold climates, such as fish in the Arctic seas, usually contain more unsaturated
Animals living in cold climates, such as fish in the Arctic seas, usually contain more unsaturated fats than those living in southern latitudes. How is this fashionable to explain? What properties of unsaturated fats is this associated with? What is the significance of the content of such fats for the body?
1) Fats are necessary to maintain body temperature, that is, thermoregulation. This is especially important in colder latitudes, where the risk of hypothermia is high. The thicker body fat allows you to better retain heat, so species living in cold climates always have more fat.
2) Unsaturated fatty acids differ from saturated ones in that they contain double bonds, i.e. they have less hydrogen. This leads to one of their properties – they melt at low temperatures, while saturated fats begin to solidify. If Arctic animals had more saturated fat in their bodies, at low temperatures they would lose flexibility and could not swim.