Vitamin A and carotenoids in certain invertebrates: V. Mollusca: Cephalopoda

Abstract

In our previous paper (Fisher, Kon & Thompson, 1956) on Mollusca we pointed out that the Cephalopoda were so different from the other classes in vitamin A and carotenoid relationships that they would be more satisfactorily considered separately. We have so far analysed ten species of cephalopods and found vitamin A in all of them. The studies of previous investigators of vitamin A in these molluscs were confined to its function in the visual cycle and to its contribution to the vitamin A reserves of sperm whales feeding on cephalopods. The carotenoids of cephalopods have been given even less attention than vitamin A.