Vitamin A and Carotenoids in Certain Invertebrates VII. Crustacea: Copepoda

Abstract

SUMMARY Total fat, carotenoids, and vitamin A were determined physicochemically in sixty-nine species and fifteen generic groups of pelagic marine copepods. Vitamin A was definitely present in Euchirella curticauda and Gaetanus kruppi and possibly so in Gaetanus pileatus and in a sample of Gaetanus spp. No vitamin A activity for vitamin A-depleted rats was found in fractions from a lipid extract of 1854 g of Calanus finmarchicus . The significance of these findings is considered in relation to the high vitamin A reserves in many fish preying upon pelagic copepods.