ANIMAL CAROTENOIDS 



POLYZOA (BRYOZOA) 



Early reports indicated the presence of a neutral carotenoid in the 

 epidermis of Bugula nertttna,^^^ whilst what would appear to be 

 astaxanthin has been found in Lepralia foliacea and Flustra foliacea, ^ ' 



The only recent work on this phylum is that of Villela, ^''^ who 

 could not find carotene in Bugula neritina or in B. flabellata ; it was 

 however, present in Schizoporella unicornis^ Steganoporella magnilabrisy 

 and Trigonospora sp. Xanthophylls, in the form of esters, occurred 

 only in Trigonospora. 



ARTHROPODA 



Crustacea 



Considering the critical position that copepods occupy as a funda- 

 mental food supply for the production of more highly organized 

 marine life, one would have expected to find that their carotenoids 

 would have' been investigated more thoroughly than is the case. 



Recently, however, Kon and his colleagues ^*^'^'^ have taken up 

 this problem and have also found the answer to the question " whence 

 does the massive store of vitamin A in fish originate ? " This question 

 is discussed later {see p. 173). 



Lwoff*"'*^ has examined, chiefly histologically, the carotenoid 

 distribution in the copepod Idya furcata. He concludes that a caro- 

 tenoid, laid dovm in the oocytes as a protein complex, is liberated 

 during development and is fixed in the eye before cellular differentia- 

 tion of the embryonic intestine. The red and blue pigments of the 

 copepod are respectively free carotenoid and a carotenoid-protein 

 complex ; the retina contains both pigments, the protein complex 

 being in an internal retinal layer ; the free pigment occurs in the blood, 

 whilst the complex exists in the eggs as a constituent of the vitelline 

 spherules. Lwoff also noted carotenoids in the luminous organs of 

 Euphausidae and in the retinas of Nebalia and Pagurus prideauocii. It is 

 important to note here that Lwoff ^'''^i and his co-workers*^ and 

 Verne, * ». * «. * « at almost the same time, were the first to realize that 

 carotenoids existed in marine invertebrates attached to proteins. 



As to the identity of carotenoids in copepods, Euler, Hellstrom and 

 Klussmann*« reported the presence of small amounts of a- and p- 

 carotene and a great deal of astaxanthin in Calanus fintnarchicus, and 

 Lederer ^ obtained crystalline astaxanthin (astacin) from P. prideauocii. 

 Recently Goodwin and Srisukh * ' have shown that the red pigmentation 

 of Tigriopus fulvus is due to the presence of free and esterified astaxan- 

 thin ; the free pigment also occurs in the eggs. 



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