CHEMISTRY OF VERONGIDA SPONGES .4. COMPARISON OF THE SECONDARY METABOLITE COMPOSITION OF SEVERAL SPECIMENS OF PSEUDOCERATINA-CRASSA

Caribbean specimens of a sponge possessing the morphological character s of Pseudoceratina crassa have been analyzed. They were shown to cont ain a number of known brominated metabolites and three novel compounds (13-15), whose structures have been determined on the basis of spectr al data. The results obtained have been discussed in the context of ei ther the possible existence of another species of Pseudoceratina not m orphologically distinguishable from P, crassa or, alternatively, the e xistence of strains P, crassa with slight genetic differences.