A NEW PHOTOSENSITIVE PIGMENT OF THE EURYHALINE TELEOST, GILLICHTHYS MIRABILIS

Abstract

Digitonin extracts of mudsucker retinae were examined spectrophoto metrically and found to contain a light-sensitive pigment absorbing maximally at 512 m[mu] Partial bleaching with monochromatic light (390 - 660 m[mu]) showed the homogeneity of this pigment; adequacy of the method was tested in a control experiment in which the components of a mixture of carp por-phyropsin and bullfrog rhodopsin were bleached selectively. Antimony trichloride analyses of the retinal carotenoids showed that retinene1 could be obtained after bleaching of the pigment and that it changed to vitamin A1 upon standing. This euryhaline fish thus does not have a mixture of rhodopsin and porphyropsin, but a single intermediate photosensitive pigment, previously undescribed.