astaxanthin

noun

as·​ta·​xan·​thin ˌa-stə-ˈzan(t)-thən 

: a carotenoid pigment C₄₀H₅₂O₄ found in red- or pink-colored aquatic organisms (such as shrimp, lobster, and salmon) and the feathers of some birds that is used especially as a food coloring and dietary supplement

Wild salmon attain their color by absorbing a carotenoid called astaxanthin from their krill-based diet, while farmed salmon eat fish feed supplemented with various sources of astaxanthin to enhance their grayish color.

—Cook's Illustrated

Astaxanthin is found in many marine animals, like shrimp and fish, and is also responsible for the pink color of flamingos that feed on crustaceans rich in the pigment.

—C. Claiborne Ray

Examples of astaxanthin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There’s also astaxanthin combined with glutamine and leucine—amino acids that may also play a role in exercise recovery. —Isabel Vasquez Rd Ldn, Verywell Health, 9 July 2024

Unlike fish oil, krill oil gets its red color from the antioxidant astaxanthin, which supports eye health and has anti-inflammatory properties. —Stephanie Brown, Verywell Health, 5 Mar. 2024

Other powerhouse ingredients like purslane, astaxanthin, coenzyme Q10, glutathione and bamboo extract are known for their potent skincare benefits. —Kate Donnelly, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024

In addition to speeding up growth, krill contains astaxanthin, a pigment that gives salmon a pinker color. —Joshua Goodman, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2023

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German, from Astacin, an oxidation product of astaxanthin (from New Latin Astacus, genus including Astacus gammarus, the European lobster—now Homarus gammarus— + German -in -in entry 1) + Xanthin "carotenoid pigment," from Greek xanthós "yellow" + German -in -in entry 1; Astacus going back to Latin, "lobster or crayfish," borrowed from Greek astakós, ostakós, of uncertain origin — more at xantho-

Note: The name Astacin was introduced by the German chemist Richard Kuhn (1900-67) and the Austrian-born French chemist Edgar Lederer (1908-88) in "Über die Farbstoffe des Hummers (Astacus gammarus L.) und ihre Stammsubstanz, das Astacin," Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, 66. Jahrgang, Nr. 4 (April 5, 1933), pp. 488-95.— Greek astakós/ostakós has been traced to a hypothetical Indo-European derivative *h₂osth₁-n̥-ko- from the base *h₂ost- "bone" (see osseous), supposedly comparable to Sanskrit an-ástha-ka- "without bones." The variant astakós is explained as either vowel assimilation or the outcome of an ablaut variant *h₂est- (allegedly seen also in astrágalos "neck vertebra, ankle bone"; see astragalus). Beekes (Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2010), who reconstructs the "bone" base as *h₃esth₁-, objects that the formation *h₃esth₁-n̥-ko- is unparalleled in Greek, and that the a/o fluctuation (not to mention the semantic field) is indicative of substratal origin.

First Known Use

1939, in the meaning defined above