The immune responses of dace Leuciscus leuciscm (L.) to injected antigenic materials

The fundamental features of the primary responses of dace Leuciscus leuciscus (L.), a freshwater cyprinid, to a number of standard antigens—haemocyanin, bovine serum albumin, horse serum, a bacterial antigen and an erythrocyte suspension, were examined. The fish were capable of producing either precipitating or agglutinating antibody in response to each of these antigens. Determinations of latent periods of antibody production by dace over a range of temperatures ?18, 10, 5 and 2°C, showed that although the latent periods of the primary response increased with decreasing temperature, fish were able to produce antibodies to the erythrocyte antigen at 2°C and to the Salmonella and horse serum protein antigens at 5°C. The demonstration of antibodies at 5 and 2°C suggests that the fish are capable of producing antibodies over the complete range of their normal environmental temperatures.