The goal of this study is to elucidate and identify several sphingophosphonolipids from Aurelia aurita, an abundant but harmless Aegean jellyfish, in which they have not previously been described. Total lipids of A. aurita were 0.031-0.036% of fresh tissue, and the lipid phosphorus content was 1.3-1.7% of total lipids. Phosphonolipids were 21.7% of phospholipids and consisted of a major ceramide aminoethylphosphonate (CAEP-I; 18.3%), as well as three minor CAEP (II, III, IV) methyl analogs at 1.3, 1.1, and 1.0%, respectively. The remaining phospholipid composition was: phosphatidylcholine, 44.5%, including 36.2% glycerylethers; phosphatidylethanolamine, 18.6%, including 4.5% glycerylethers; cardiolipin, 5.6%; phosphatidylinositol, 2.6%; and lysophosphatidylcholine, 5.0%. In CAEP-I, saturated fatty acids of 14-18 carbon chain length were 70.8% and were combined with 57.3% dihydroxy bases and 23.4% trihydroxy bases. The suite of the three minor CAEP methyl analogs were of the same lipid class based on the head group, but they separated into three different components because of their polarity as follows: CAEP-II and CAEP-III differentiation from the major CAEP-I was mainly due to the increased fatty acid unsaturation and not to a different long-chain base, but the CAEP-IV differentiation from CAEP-I, apart from fatty acid unsaturation, was due to the increased content of hydroxyl groups originated from both hydroxy fatty acids and trihydroxy long-chain bases. Saturated fatty acids were predominant in total (76.7%), polar (83.0%), and neutral lipids (67.6%) of A. aurita. The major phospholipid components of A. aurita were comparable to those previously found in a related organism (Pelagia noctiluca), which can injure humans.

Phospholipids, Phosphonolipids, M ytilus galloprovincialis, Mussels, Food Analysis One of the possible roles of phosphonolipids is that they have a contribution to the protec tion of cellular integrity and survival of aquatic organisms (mollusca, cnidaria) as these lipids are included at high percentages. The total lipids of the edible mussel Mytilus galloprovin cialis (Mollusca, Bivalvia, M ytilidae) were found to constitute 1.27% of fresh tissue. Polar lipid com ponents constitute 61.5% of the total lipids. After separation by Solid Phase Extrac tion, the polar lipid fraction was separated by two dimensional thin-layer chromatography and the total phosphorus of each component, was determined. The main polar lipids found were: Phosphatidylcholine, 41.6 ± 0.8% (of which 11.3 ± 0.5% was glyceryl ether analog); ceramide am inoethylphosphonate 11.2 ± 0.2% plus 2.8 ± 0.1% another minor species; phosphatidylethanolamine, 26.6 ± 0.5% (of which 12.2 ± 0.3% was glyceryl ether analog). The individual ceramide aminoethylphosphonate species were isolated by preparative thin layer chromatography and the structure of the major one was confirmed by a combination of analytical and chromatographic methods. Saturated fatty acyl groups with 16 carbon atoms were the main com ponents (48.4% ) of the major ceramide aminoethylphosphonate species. Diglyceride aminoethyl phosphonates were not found in lipids of M. galloprovincialis.

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