The occurrence of porphyrins in certain marine invertebrates

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Abstract
Summary: A survey of forty-eight species of British marine invertebrates has shown that porphyrins which have not previously been described in these animals are present in three representatives of the Annelida, two of the Mollusca and two of the Echinodermata. The occurrence of protoporphyrin inAsterias rubenswas confirmed in a previous paper (Kennedy & Vevers, 1953b). A redfluorescent extract was obtained from the spongeTethya aurantium, but it contained too little material for further investigation. No trace of a porphyrin was found in the coelenterates, crustaceans and tunicates examined, although Moseley found ‘polyperythrin’ (which MacMunn later identified with the ‘haematoporphyrin’ ofAsteriasandArion) inFlabellumandFungia.Chlorocruoroporphyrin was found free in the starfishesLuidiaandAstropecten. Uroporphyrin was extracted from the soft dorsal integument ofDuvaucelia (= Tritonia) plebeia, and from the integument ofAplysia punctata, observations of interest in view of the widespread occurrence of uroporphyrin in mollusc shells.Coproporphyrin III was characterized from extracts of the viscera ofMyxicola infundibulum, Nereis diversicolorandChaetopterus variopedatus. Evidence of the occurrence of a penta-carboxylic porphyrin was obtained from paper chromatography of the extract from the gut ofChaetopterus.These findings are discussed in comparison with the distribution of porphyrins in birds and mammals.

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