On the Chemical Composition of some Mucous Substances of Fish.

Wessler, Erland; Werner, Ivar; Frydman, Mina; Sillén, Lars Gunnar

doi:10.3891/acta.chem.scand.11-1240

Cited by 40 publications

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“…In addition to layers of keratin and enamel, teleost scales contain a dermal portion and are covered, in life, with a protein-rich mucus layer (van Oosten, 1957;Wessler and Werner, 1957;Harris and Hunt, 1973;Gorlick, 1980;Whitear, 1986). They are a rich source of calcium phosphate (Whitear, 1986), and calorimetry studies by Whitfield and Blaber (1978) The wimple piranha, Catoprion mento, has a narrowrange natural diet with fish scales comprising an important proportion of its total food intake.…”

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Functional morphology of feeding in the scale-eating specialistCatoprion mento

Janovetz

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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One fruitful approach to animal function has been to investigate the 'unusual' members of a lineage, species that appear to deviate from the typical form, exhibit novel functions or superlative performance, or inhabit extreme environments. This research approach has contributed to the understanding of the form and function of such amazing structures and behaviors as chameleon tongue projection (Schwenk and Bell, 1988;Wainwright et al., 1991;de Groot and van Leeuwen, 2004), tongue protrusion in plethodontid salamanders (Lombard and Wake, 1976Deban and Marks, 2002), water running in basilisk lizards (Laerm, 1973(Laerm, , 1974Hsieh, 2003), wall climbing in geckos (Russell, 1975;Irschick et al., 1996), extreme jaw protrusion in fishes (Liem, 1979;Westneat and Wainwright, 1989;Westneat, 1991), brain-warming muscles in billfish (Block et al., 1993), and 'flying' in fishes (Fish, 1990;Davenport, 1992), frogs (Emerson and Koehl, 1990) and lizards (Hairston, 1957). Conceptually, these studies explore the limits to biomechanical and behavioral evolution, provide informative and appealing examples of adaptive change, and expand knowledge of functional biodiversity.Catoprion mento (Cuvier), the wimple piranha, has a strange diet and equally unusual anatomy and feeding behavior.Catoprion is a monotypic genus of small South American characin that inhabits clear freshwater streams and lakes with abundant submerged vegetation (Taphorn, 1992). Its specific name, 'mento', is Greek for 'chin', referring to the distinctive protuberance created by the curve in its banana-shaped, elongate lower jaw (Fig.·1). Its reduced, conical-shaped teeth on the upper jaw project forward when the jaws are closed (Gery, 1977;Sazima, 1983;Taphorn, 1992). The dietary breadth of Catoprion mento is one of the narrowest reported for fishes; scales form an important proportion of the diet throughout most of ontogeny, and adults feed almost entirely on this prey (Vieira and Gery, 1979;Sazima, 1983;Nico and Taphorn, 1988). Despite our perception that scales should be an unappetizing meal, lepidophagy is relatively widespread in fishes, having evolved independently in at least five freshwater and seven marine families (Sazima, 1983). Although the functional morphology of scale feeding has not previously been experimentally investigated, anatomical and behavioral observations suggest that a diversity of morphologies and attack behaviors are used by lepidophagous predators (Roberts, 1970;Major, 1973;Liem and Stewart, 1976; Whitfield, 1979;Sazima, 1977Sazima, , 1983 Winemiller, 1997, 1998) and that the behavioral origins of scale feeding may be different for different lineages (DeMartini and Coyer, 1981;Sazima, 1983;Sazima and Machado, 1990).Surprisingly, scales are a relatively nutritious food source. In addition to layers of keratin and enamel, teleost scales contain a dermal portion and are covered, in life, with a protein-rich mucus layer (van Oosten, 1957;Wessler and Werner, 1957;Harris and Hunt, 1973;Gorlick, 1980;Whitear, 1986). They are a rich source...

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Functional morphology of feeding in the scale-eating specialistCatoprion mento

Janovetz

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Such a diet is obviously specialized, and on first sight rather unpromising. However, fish scales contain 40-85% protein (van Oosten 1957), and fish mucus has a similar, relatively high percentage of protein (Wessler & Werner 1957, Pickering 1974, Hara & MacDonald 1976. and lipids (Lewis 1970).…”

Section: Possible Functions and Evolution Of This Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Parent-touching behavior by young fishes: incidence, function and causation

Noakes

1979

Environ Biol Fish

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SynopsisParent-touching behavior by young fishes occurs in a number of species. Most reports have been from the family Cichlidae, but this may reflect the major concentration of studies on these species. The behavior appears to serve a trophic function in many species, but may also serve to maintain cohesion of family groups, to keep adults in a parental state, or to communicate the motivational state of the young (e.g. fear, hunger). It has been suggested that prolactin may regulate the behavior and epidermal mucus condition in parental fish involved in such behavior, but the evidence is not conclusive. There appear to be similarities between cases of parenttouching as a trophic behavior, and mucus-and/or scale-feeding by cleaning symbionts or predators. Studies of this behavior hold promise for investigating interrelationships between endocrinology and behavior, and ecology and behavior.

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“…The samples were hydrolyzed after 1 hour, a 2-hour hydrolysis was tried to increase the sugar concentration in the hydrolyzate. As was shown by Wessler and Werner (1957) a 2-hour hydrolysis reduced the concentration of the pentose with out compensating benefits. Using congo red as an indicator, the pH of the samples was adjusted to about 5 by the addition of barium carbonate.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…The carbohydrate is likely associated with minor glycoprotein constituents (Wessler and Werner, 1957). Even for Garpiodes species where mucus is relatively abundant, the sugars in single fish mucus samples are scarcely sufficient to produce visible spots on chromatograms.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biochemical taxonomy of catostomidae and hybridization of Carpiodes species

Huntsman

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On the Chemical Composition of some Mucous Substances of Fish.

Cited by 40 publications

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Functional morphology of feeding in the scale-eating specialistCatoprion mento

Functional morphology of feeding in the scale-eating specialistCatoprion mento

Parent-touching behavior by young fishes: incidence, function and causation

Biochemical taxonomy of catostomidae and hybridization of Carpiodes species

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