Effect of food deprivation on transformation of carotenoids in the bivalve mollusc Anadara kagoshimensis (Tokunaga, 1906)

Abstract

The composition and content of carotenoids in tissues of Anadara kagoshimensis (Tokunaga, 1906) were analyzed under food deprivation over 30 days. By the end of the experiment, a little and uneven decrease in the total carotenoid level was observed in the foot, hepatopancreas, gills, and tissue remainder. Initially, β-carotine, pectenolon, zeaxanthine, diatoxanthine, alloxanthine and the ethers of the latter four carotenoids were detected in tissue extracts. The qualitative carotenoid composition in the tissues under study was similar. During the experiment, changes common to all tissues were found both in the composition and content of carotenoids. β-carotene disappeared on days 3–4, the level of pectenolon, zeaxanthine, diatoxanthine and alloxanthine ethers decreased over 30 days, while the pectenolon and alloxanthine levels increased. Tissue specificity was revealed. Specifically, in the foot and hepatopancreas, a considerable increase was observed in the pectenolon and alloxanthine levels parallel to the decreasing total level of carotenoid esthers and increasing level of diatoxanthine and zeaxanthine; in the gills and lump of the remaining tissues, at the similar increase in the pectenolon and alloxanthine levels, those of diatoxanthine and zeaxanthine remained intact or even a little below the initial level. The diagram of carotenoid transformation in Anadara kagoshimensis is supplemented.