482 IX. CAROTENOIDS AND VITAMINS A 



{Eupagurus prideauxii) ; Goodwin and Srisukh^^'' demonstrated that the 

 red pigmentation of the small red copepod (Tigriopus fulvus) is due to the 

 presence of free and esterified astaxanthin. Other sources of astaxanthin 

 include the eggs of the cirripeds, the goose-barnacles {Lepas fascicularis 

 and L. anatifera) ^^^ The skin of the amphipods, the European sand- 

 hopper shrimp (Orchestia gammarellus) , the coastal freshwater shrimp 

 {Gammarus marinus) and of the freshw^ater flea shrimp {Gammarus pulex) 

 was found to contain carotenoid pigments and an acid resembling astaxan- 

 thin. The most interesting occurrence of astaxanthin, however, is as a 

 component of the greem chromoprotein, ovoverdin, which occurs in the 

 carapace and eggs of the European lobster {Homarus vulgaris). ^^■'^^^ Al- 

 though the product first prepared from ovoverdin differed somewhat from 

 astaxanthin, and was called astacin, Kuhn and Sorensen^** showed that as- 

 tacin is an oxidative artefact of astaxanthin. Stern and Salomon^*^ •'*'"' 

 proved that ovoverdin and the blue pigment in lobster carapaces are asta- 

 xanthin-protein complexes. Burkhardt et al^^^ demonstrated the pres- 

 ence of astaxanthin in the Norway lobster {Nephrops norvegicus). The 

 pigment in the hypodermis was found to be an esterified astaxanthin, 

 while that in the eggs and carapace was unesterified.'*" Ball^^^ stated that 

 the blue pigment in the ovaries and developing embryo of the goose barna- 

 cles {Lepas anatif era and L. fascicularis) , is a carotenoprotein with astaxan- 

 thin as the prosthetic group, and euglobulin as the protein. The sources 

 of astaxanthin known up to 1939 are listed by Kuhn et a/.^^^ 



jS-Carotene appears to be only a minor component of the crustaceans. 

 Thus, Kon and co-workers^^*~^^^ noted the almost complete absence of the 

 carotenes from the "krill" forming the food of whales, and from other 

 Crustacea, such as the schizopods and euphausiids {Meganyctiphancs nor- 

 vegica, Thysanoessa inermis and T. raschii), the northern prawn {Pandalus 

 honnieri), the spiny shrimp {Spirontocarus spinus), the nipper prawn {Cran- 

 ^on a//mom) , the European prawn (C vulgaris), and planktonic, phospho- 

 rescent shrimp {Euphausia superba Dana), found in the food (''krill") of 



«7 T. W. Goodwin and S. Srisukh, Biochem. J., 45, 268-270 (1949). 



^3« E. G. Ball, /. Biol. Chem., 152, 627-G34 (1944). 



«« R. Kuhn and E. Lederer, Ber., 66, 488-495 (1933). 



"» K. G. Stern and K. Salomon, Science, 86, 310-311 (1937). 



^^1 G. N. Burkhardt, I. M. Heilbron, H. Jackson, E. G. Parry, and J. A. Lovern, 

 Biochem. J., 28, 1698-1701 (1934). 



"2 R. Kuhn, J. Stene, and N. A. Sorensen, Ber., 72, 1688-1701 (1939). 



^« S. K. Kon and S. Y. Thompson, Arch. Biochem., 24, 233-234 (1949). 



"* S. K. Kon and S. Y. Thompson, Biochem. J., 45, x.x.xi-xxxii (1949). 



**^ E. Batham, L. R. Fisher, K. M. Henry, S. K. Kon, and S. Y. Thompson, Biochem. 

 J., 48, x-.xi (1951). 



