Fresh red algae (Porphyra crispate) were dried with hot air or freeze-dried and ground to 200 mesh prior to extraction.The yields (2.5%) of algal oil from the two drying methods were not different.But the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs,10.12 mg/dry basis) from the hot-air dried algae was 82.7% of that obtained from the freeze-dried algae,while the yield of the ecicosapentaenoic acid (EPA,5.36 mg/dry basis) from the hot-air dried was 73.9% of the latter.