STORAGE OF CAROTENOIDS AND OF VITAMINS A 483 



antarctic whales. However, astaxanthin was found to occur in large 

 amounts in all of these crustaceans. ^''^•^^^ Fisher et al.'^'^^ likewise found 

 that (S-carotene was absent from the first two crustaceans listed above. 



No carotenoids could be demonstrated in the skin of the cavernicolous 

 hypogean white well-shrimps {Niphargus {Stylodytes) halcanicus Absolom, 

 Niphargus (Antroplates) herculeanus Absolom), or in the hypogean fresh- 

 water isopod crustacean (Asellus aquaticus cavernicolus) , although crypto- 

 xanthin and (8-carotene were present in the body tissues of Asellus. Carot- 

 enoid pigmentation is considered to be characteristic of amphipods, and 

 would therefore be the ancestral pigment of the cave forms. A lack of sur- 

 face pigment in the latter may be due to absence of light; it is not attribut- 

 able to lack of carotenoids in the food.^^^ 



In spite of the almost complete absence of /3-carotene, preformed vitamin 

 A has been found in many species of crustaceans."**^ Thus, the Euphausi- 

 idae, Meganyctiphanes norvegica and Thysanoessa raschii {M. Sars), which 

 make up the main food supply of blue and fin whales in northern waters, 

 were found by Kon and Thompson'*'*'* to contain fairly large amounts of 

 preformed vitamin A. In the case of M. norvegica, the vitamin A concen- 

 tration was augmented as the animal grew in size,*"*^ but did not increase 

 in the case of T. raschii. However, the total astaxanthin content, but not 

 its concentration, was higher in the larger animals of both species.**^ 

 The eyes of the euphausiids were found by Fisher et aZ.**^ '**'' to contain 90% 

 of the total vitamin A, while the balance of the vitamin was present in the 

 exoskeleton and in the contents of the cephalothorax. Fisher and co- 

 workers*"*^ found a c?s-isomer of vitamin A, with an absorption peak at 315 

 m/i in n-hexane, in the eyes of the euphausiid crustacean {M. norvegica). 

 A large proportion of astaxanthin likewise occurs in the eyes.'**^ Batham 

 et al.^^^ confirmed the fact that two-thirds of the total vitamin A in Eu- 

 phausia superha Dana occurs in the eyes. 



Opinions differ concerning the presence of vitamin A in these and in 

 other related invertebrates. Thus, Drummond and Hilditch*'*^ reported 

 that the Norway lobster {Nepkrops norvegicus) and the shrimp-like crusta- 

 cean {Meganyctiphanes norvegica) contained little or no vitamin A. It 



"^ L. R. Fisher, S. K. Kon, and S. Y. Thompson, /. Marine Biol. Assoc. United 

 Kingdom, 31, 229-258 (1952). 



^" L. R. Fisher, S. K. Kon, and S. Y. Thompson, Biochem. J., 49, xv-xvi (1951). 



"8 L. R. Fisher, K. M. Henry, S. K. Kon, P. A. Plack, and S. Y. Thompson, Bio- 

 chem. J., 61, vi (1955). 



"9 J. C. Drummond and T. P. Hilditch, Empire Marketing Board, Puhl. No. 35, 1- 

 129 (1930); cited by L. R. Fisher, S. K. Kon, and S. Y. Thompson, J. Marine Biol. 

 Assoc. United Kingdom, 31, 229-258 (1952), p. 230. 



