CHEMISTRY OF VERONGIDA SPONGES .6. COMPARISON OF THE SECONDARY METABOLIC COMPOSITION OF APLYSINA-INSULARIS AND APLYSINA-FULVA

Caribbean specimens of the sponge Aplysina insularis have been shown t o contain a number of known brominated metabolites and two novel compo unds (14 and 15), whose structures have been determined on the basis o f spectral data. The results obtained indicate that the metabolism of A. insularis is rather different from that of A. fulva. This diversity indicates that the two sponges cannot be considered as two formae of the same species (A. fistularis), hut, in accord with a recent suggest ion by Pulitzer-Finali, should be classified as two distinct species. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd