Seventeen naturally occurring sphingosine bases, including saturated, unsaturated, hydroxylated and branched chain isomers with chain lengths from 16 to 20 carbons, have been well characterized. We report the discovery of 14:sphingosine (tetradeca-4-sphingenine) in the crayfish Procambarus clarkii and present initial studies on the sphingosine base composition of its nonganglioside sphingolipids. Ventral cords from 100 crayfish were dissected, washed, and total polar lipids (excluding gangliosides) were prepared via Folch extraction and silicic acid column separation. Sphingosine bases were liberated by methanolysis, converted to aldehydes via periodate oxidation, and analyzed by gas liquid chromatography (GLC) using a DEGS-packed column. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) showed major polar lipids as phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl ethanolamine, with minor sphingomyelin, cerebroside, and sulfatide. GLC revealed two major aldehyde peaks identified as 14:sphingosine and 16:sphingosine in a 59:41 ratio, confirmed by retention time, semilogarithmic carbon number plots, bisulfite addition, catalytic hydrogenation, and sodium borohydride reduction. A third unidentifiable peak and trace 18:sphingosine/18:dihydrosphingosine were found. Discrepancy with a prior study (reporting 18:sphingosine as major) is attributed to their glycolipid focus (minor here) vs our total polar lipids (including sphingomyelin) and GLC's greater reliability over TLC of dinitrophenyl derivatives.