Composition and Content of Carotenoids of Gastropod Tritia reticulata in Black Sea

The results of a two–year study of the composition and content of carotenoids of sea snails Tritia reticulata (L., 1758), living in a mixed bottom community of bivalve mollusks in the sandy zone of the upper sublitoral (depth 0–1 m) of the Cossack Bay of Sevastopol, are presented. The highest content of total carotenoids was detected in June (1.8–2.09 mg/100 g of crude mass), the average Cossack Baymples for both years was 1.54 mg/100 g of crude mass. In the qualitative composition of T. reticulata taken from the pastures of bivalves on sandy-silt soil, 15 free carotenoids were identified: b-carotene, echinenone, hydroxyechinenone, astaxanthin, didehydroastaxanthin, diadinoxanthin, diatoxanthin, fucoxanthin, halocintiaxanthin, fucoxanthinol, mactraxanthin, heteroxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, alloxanthin and esters of the last 4 carotenoids. The po-ssibility of metabolic transformations of carotenoids is discussed.