Isolation of elatol from Laurencia microcladia and its palatability to the sea urchin Echinometra lucunter

Elatol was isolated as the major compound from the red alga Laurencia microcladia Kutz. collected in Southern Brazil. This is the first report of elatol in this species. We also investigated the herbivore behaviour of the black sea urchin Echinometra lucunter (Linnaeus, 1758) towards L microcladia, Ulva fasciata Delile and Gracilaria domingensis (Kutz.) Sond. ex Dickie through live algal multiple-choice feeding assay, as well as artificial feeding assay. The sea urchins ate the crude algae L microcladia and pellets containing the powdered algae, extract and all tested concentrations of elatol, suggesting that this seaweed and its main compound are palatable for E. lucunter. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.