478 IX. CAROTENOIDS AND VITAMINS A 



Although Palmer, 21 in 1922, stated that there was no evidence of the 

 presence of carotenoids in the coelenterates, a number of investigators, 

 particularly L6nnberg,^°2''*°^'*^2 demonstrated their widespread distribu- 

 tion in these Metazoa. 



Several factors are responsible for the particular color developed. For 

 example, Schultze*^* reported that, in the case of the freshwater polyps 

 {Hydra spp.), the nutritional condition influenced the color; whereas well- 

 nourished animals were yellow, red, or black, they became colorless when 

 fasted. This is also tme of two sea-mollusks, the nudibranch {Fiona 

 marina Forsk.) and the blue sea-snail {Janthina communis Lam.), which 

 feed on the blue jelly-fish {Vellela spirans), and become colorless when de- 

 prived of this food.^i^ 



The type of color developed may also vary within the species. Thus, 

 three varieties of the purple-red sea-anemone {Actinia {equina) mesemhrij- 

 anthemum) have different colors, red, brown, and green. All of them de- 

 rive their carotenoids originally from the diet.'^i'' It is evident either that 

 a striking specificity in primary selective absorption obtains, or that there 

 is a variation in the metabolism of a common compound absorbed by all 

 three varieties. The red animals were found by Lederer^^^ and by Fabre 

 and Lederer"*^ to have, in addition to a- and j8-carotenes, a red carotenoid 

 ester combined with protein, which was called actinioerythrin. This 

 finding was confirmed by Heilbron et al.^" The parent carotenoid portion 

 was later isolated and given the name violerythrin.'^^'^ The yellow pigment 

 was found by Heilbron and co-workers*" to be carotene, or the taraxanthin 

 ester. It is believed that the brown variety is intermediate between the 

 green and the red, and that it contains both actinioerythrin and the 

 taraxanthin ester. ^^^ 



A number of specific xanthophylls have been identified in coelenterates, 

 including sulcatoxanthin, from the sea-anemone {Anemonia sulcata);^" 

 a similar if not identical pigment was reported in the Pacific coast rough sea- 

 anemone {Anthopleura xa7ithogrammica) ,'^^^ and in the snowy white or red, 

 yellow, or brown plumose sea-anemone {Metridium senile) .'^^^ However, 

 the sulcatoxanthin appears to be identical with piridinin obtained from the 



"12 E. Lonnberg, Arkiv Zool, A SO, No. 6, 1-10 (1938). 

 "13 P. Schultze, Arch. Biontol. {Berlin), 4, No. 2, 33-119 (1917). 

 "1" M. Abeloos-Parize and R. Abeloos-Parize, Compt. rend. soc. biol.,94, 560-562 (1926). 

 "15 E. Lederer, Compt. rend. soc. biol, 113, 1391-1392 (1933). 

 "6 R. Fabre and E. Lederer, Bull. soc. chim. biol, 16, 105-118 (1934). 

 «7 I. M. Heilbron, H. Jackson, and R. N. Jones, Biochem. J., 29, 1384-1388 (1935). 

 "18 H. H. Strain, W. M. Manning, and G. Hardin, Biol. Bull, 86, 169-191 (1944). 

 "19 D. L. Fox and C. F. A. Pantin, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, B 230, 415-450 

 (1941). 



