Carotenoid pigments from the skin and fin of Japanese perch (fresh water fish), Coreoperca kawamebari, were investigated. The principal carotenoid pigment was not lutein (23.5%), currently believed to be the predominant, characteristic pigment of fresh water fishes, but tunaxanthin (49.5%), until now believed to be characteristic of marine fishes.
In addition, zeaxanthin (9.9%), cynthiaxanthin (4.4%), triol (4.3%), cryptoxanthin (3.9%), diatoxanthin (2.5%), astacene and dradecin (1.4%), and β-carotene (0.6%) were present in small amounts.
The assumption that tunaxanthin might be a chemical indicator in the division percichthyes proved correct even in the case of Japanese perch which is the only kind of fresh water fish in the order percida which spends its entire life-span in fresh water.
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