The isolation and description of two marine micro-organisms with special reference to their pigment production.

Two corynefonn organisms (A 1082 and A 1062) isolated from the skin mucus of Arctic cod, are described in detail. Strain A1032 may be a new species; strain A 1062 is a strain of Corynebacterium erythrogenes. Three carotenoid pigments, all with very similar absorption spectra, were found in both strains. Two of these pigments were identified as neoxanthin and sarcinaxanthin. "he third pigment has not been described previously and has been named corynexanthin; it is characterized by an extremely high adsorptive power. The three pigments occur in different relative amounts in the two strains. Diphenylamine has no qualitative effect on the pigments produced, but does tend slightly to inhibit the amount produced. Strain A1062 on certain media (notably blood agar base, Oxoid), produces large amounts of coproporphyrin I11 and smaller amounts of pentacarboxy-, tricarboxy-, and dicarboxy-porphyrins. Strain A 1032 does not produce porphyrins.