Olfactory sensitivity to conspecific bile fluid and skin mucus in the European eel Anguilla anguilla (L.)

The present study assessed the olfactory potency of conspecific bile fluid and skin mucus in the European eel Anguilla anguilla by the electro-olfactogram. Immature males showed high olfactory sensitivity to conspecific bile, giving large amplitude responses in a concentration-dependent manner with estimated thresholds of detection of <1:10⁷ ( n = 6). Mucus also proved to contain highly potent odorants with thresholds of detection of c . 1:10⁶ ( n = 6). Crude solid-phase extraction of bile fluid (C-18 and C-2/ENV+ cartridges) showed that the majority of olfactory activity in bile fluid was contained in the eluate of C-18 cartridges ( n = 6). There were quantitative differences, however, between the sexes; female bile fluid had a higher proportion of activity in this fraction. Similar solid-phase extraction of mucus showed that it contains a higher proportion of odorants in the C-18 filtrate than bile fluid. Mucus from mature eels, however, had a higher proportion of olfactory activity in the eluate than immature fish ( n = 6). Cross-adaptation experiments suggest that there are qualitative differences in the odorants contained in bile and mucus depending on both the sex and state of sexual maturation of the donor ( n = 6). These results are consistent with a role for chemical communication in the reproduction of the European eel and suggest that both bile and mucus are potential sources of the odorants involved.