The chain lengths of fatty acids and fatty alcohols in naturally occurring wax esters vary. The fatty acids in wax esters derived from plants typically range from C12-C24, and the alcohols in plant waxes tend to be very long, typically C24-C34. The fatty acids and fatty alcohols of wax esters from different marine animals show major differences. Wax esters of sperm whales contain C12 fatty acids and C14 fatty acid and alcohols. Monounsaturated C18 is the dominant fatty acid of most fish wax esters, with the exception of roe wax esters, which have sizeable amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids such as 20:5n-3, 22:5n-3 and 22:6n-3. The fatty acids of wax esters of certain zooplankton largely reflects the fatty acids of phytoplankton, and contain high amounts of C14 and C16, as well as 20:5n-3, 22:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 and monounsaturated C20 and C22 are the principal fatty alcohols.