**9. Mammalia (Mammals)**

There are few reports available on carotenoids in marine mammals. Only, Άcarotene and lutein were reported from the dolphin [44]. The whale is the biggest marine mammal. Whales feed on krill, which is an important dietary source of astaxanthin for marine animals. Therefore, whales might accumulate astaxanthin in the body. 

Recently, absorption and metabolism of fucoxanthin (**25**) in mice was investigated. Dietary administrated fucoxanthin was converted to amarouciaxanthin A (**34**) via fucoxanthinol (**26**) 

in mice [45,46] (Figure 16). This metabolic conversion was also observed in human hepatoma cell HepG2 and required NAD(P)+ as a cofactor [45]. 

**Figure 16.** Metabolism of fucoxanthin in mice. 
