Kinetic effects of added copper, zinc, and iron compounds have been investigated in the oxidation of lipids in mackerel skin and meat at 60 C using a simple weight gain method. Inorganic Fe(II) and Cu(II) were found to be strong catalysts in mackerel lipid oxidation. The meat lipids were particularly sensitive to oxidation in the presence of Fe(II) and Cu(II) below 5 ppm, and increments above this level did not result in a further increase in catalytic influence. The oxidation of skin lipids increased very rapidly with increased Fe(II) and Cu(II) concentrations of < 10 ppm, and slight increases in prooxidative effects were still recorded when additional metals were added. The oxidations catalyzed by hemoglobin and zinc for skin lipids, and hematin for meat lipids, were proportional on a semilogarithmic basis with the increases in the metal catalysts. The slight variations in fatty acids between mackerel skin and meat samples did not seem adequate to explain the rapid oxidation in skin tipids. Thus, we believe that in the skin lipids one or more fat-solvent-extractable prooxidants, alone or associated with trace metals, were present and were responsible for the high susceptibility to oxidation found for this lipid.aThe contents of Cd and Hg (< 0.05 ppm) and Co, Ni, and Mn (< 0.4 ppm) showed no significant differences between skin and meats.bFor the dark meat only. CFor the white meat only.