Using lanternfish as a source of good quality fatty acids to produce hygienic moisturizing soaps

In the recent years, marine natural compounds are so useful in the health and cosmetics. The small fish is one of the sources for nutritional value and biological activities, but due to their small size, they are not suitable for frying, boiling and etc. Benthosema pterotum was sampled from Oman sea. Oil extraction was performed by Blight and Dyer. First, fatty acids were separated with urea digestion and they were identified with gas chromatography. Then, in order to prepare the cream and soap, the cosmetic bases of Farabi Company were used, and finally moisture of skin with coroniometer measured. The quality of the soaps was evaluated based on the total microbial count, bacterial count of Staphylococcus aureus, coliform count, and Escherichia coli count. The soaps were made using myctophid fish oil, which contained eicosapentaenoic acid (10.4%) and docosahexaenoic acid (0.8%). The soap containing 5% myctophid oil increased skin moisture content by 0.81%. Therefore, due to the cosmetic and hygienic properties of myctophid fish oil, it can be utilized in the formulation of moisturizing and rejuvenating cosmetic products. It is hoped that, considering the nutritional and biological activities of these small fish, effective steps will be taken to produce non-oil food and cosmetic products after addressing the drawbacks of commercially extracted oils.