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The structures of the fatty acid tails. They can either be "saturated" or "unsaturated," which refers to hydrogens. If a fatty acid tail is saturated, then the carbon skeleton is bonded to as many hydrogens as possible. These are single C--H bonds so one carbon pairs with two hydrogens. An unsaturated fatty acid carbon may be double bonded to one hydrogen only. The double bonding causes "kinks" in the tails, causing them to be sort of "jumbled". Because the tails don't line up in unsaturated lipids, the freezing point is effectively lowered. Aquatic organisms in the Northern hemisphere have a higher concentration of unsaturated fatty acid chains in their lipid bilayer to preserve it's fluidity during the winter months.

Another factor is cholesterol: a lipid (steroid) that lies between the fatty acid tails. This too affects the fluidity of the membrane.

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