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Analyses of lipids and fatty acids in muscles and hepatopancreas of five commercially exploited crabs inhabiting the Sea of Japan and the Okhotsk Sea, namely Paralithodes camtschaticus , Paralithodes platypus , Chionoecetes opilio, Chionoecetes angulatus and Chionoecetes japonicus , have been carried out. The total lipid level (TL) in muscles ranged from 0.53% of wet weight (ww) to 1.57% of ww and the amount of phospholipids exceeded that of triglycerides. The TL contents in the hepatopancreas of all crabs were higher than in muscles and varied between 10.2% ww in C. angulatus and 19.8% ww in P. platypus , the major class of lipids being triglycerides. The main polar lipids in the hepatopancreas and muscles were phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). Among polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), the n -3 fatty acids have dominated; 16:0, 18:1 n -9, 20:5 n -3 and 22:6 n -3 were the main fatty acids contained in the tissues studied. In all the crabs, excluding C. angulatus , the PUFAs n -3/ n -6 ratio in muscles varied between 7.02 and 10.3 while, in the hepatopancreas, the ratio varied between 4.00 and 6.62.