Absence or Singular Specificity of Carotenoids in Some Lower Fishes

Abstract

No colored carotenoids were recovered from the scales or liver of the coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, or from skin, immature eggs, or liver of the Pacific hagfish, Eptatretus stoutii. Zeaxanthin, present as esters in the skin and largely unesterified in the liver, was the only carotenoid identified in the thornback ray, Platyrhinoidis triseriata, and in the horned shark, Heterodontus francisci, whereas the skin of the Pacific mako shark, Isurus glaucus, yielded no carotenoids.