ISOLATION OF THE NICKEL-CHLORIN CHELATE TUNICHLORIN FROM THE SOUTH-PACIFIC OCEAN SEA HARE DOLABELLA-AURICULARIA

The Papua New Guinea shell-less mollusc Dolabella auricularia has been found to contain a series of green to blue-green chlorins. One of the se compounds was found to be the nickel chelate tunichlorin [1] which was isolated previously only from the Caribbean tunicate Trididemnum s olidum. Discovery of tunichlorin [1] in a sea hare suggests that its o ccurrence in algae-consuming marine animals may be more common than ea rlier realized, and it may have a role in electron transfer or other m etabolic processes.