**11. Conclusions**

In the present review, I have described marine animal carotenoids from natural product chemistry, metabolism, food chain, and chemosystematic viewpoints and also describe new structural carotenoids isolated from marine animals during the last decade. 

In plants and photosynthetic bacteria, biosynthetic roots of carotenoids were identified at the enzymatic and gene level. On the other hand, neither enzymes nor genes for the metabolism of carotenoids in animals have been clarified. Therefore, chemical, biochemical, and analytical approaches are still important to clarify carotenoids in animals. 

Interesting new structural carotenoids can still be found in marine animals. The structures of these new carotenoids provide information on the function and food chain, as well as metabolic pathways in marine animals. 

## **References and Notes**


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© 2011 by the authors. Submitted for possible open access publication under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). 
