Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, U.K.;Department of Biochemistry, University of Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9101, 6500HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Abstract:
The visual pigments in the retinal rods of elvers ( Anguilla anguilla L.) were examined by microspectrophotometry and high performance liquid chromatography. The glass elver stage had a mixture of rhodopsin P5011 and porphyropsin P5232 with the former predominating (P5011:P5232= c. 60:40). More mature pigmented elvers had a predominance of the porphyropsin P5232 (P5011:P5232= c. 10:90). The shift between the proportions of each pigment was monitored over a 7-month period and was shown to occur in individual retinal rods. This shift is a reverse of the pigment shift that occurs in adult eels during their downstream migration.