Why would our skinless sockeye fillets test higher in vitamin D than fillets of fish with fattier flesh?
I had a hunch that answer might lie in the zooplankton that constitute so much of their diet. Zooplankton is a term that covers a variety of tiny marine animals, including larval-stage crustaceans. Indeed, a quick search of the scientific literature confirmed that phytoplankton (single-cell marine organisms) and zooplankton are the key sources of vitamin D in the marine food chain. Both types of minuscule sea life create large amounts of vitamin D from sunlight, and zooplankton feed on phytoplankton, thus driving their vitamin D content to even higher levels. Unlike most other fish and salmon species (except chum), sockeye feed largely on zooplankton through all stages of life, so it makes sense they would accumulate unusually high levels of vitamin D in the fat deposited throughout their flesh. Note: There are some seasonal and geographic variations in sockeye diets, so vitamin D levels will vary. It seems that my hunch was right, and that the mystery of sockeye and vitamin D is solve
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