PRESENCE OF TRYPSIN IN DISTINCTIVE BODY SEGMENTS OF LEPTOCEPHALUS LARVAE OF ANGUILLIFORMES

It is still open to debate whether or not leptocephali actively ingest live food organisms, The uptake of food particles and their subsequen t processing would depend on the presence of digestive enzymes capable of degrading proteins and other macromolecules. Thus, the determinati on of proteolytic activity and trypsin specific immunostaining have be en used to identify tissue segments with the potential to degrade inge sted proteins, Activity of trypsin was measured in intestinal structur es along the entire fish and further localised to distinctive areas of the digestive tract by anti-eel trypsin immunohistochemistry. These r esults suggest that the digestive system in the larvae has the capacit y to degrade macromolecules.