Plasma proteins in the blood of fishes from the Gulf of Mexico

¹ Department of Biochemistry, University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Jackson; and Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi

The plasma proteins of 14 families and 26 species of fishes from Gulf coast marine waters have been studied electrophoretically. Analbuminemia has been observed not only in elasmobranchs, but in gars and some clupeids, as well as in two species of higher fishes. Analbuminemia is characteristic of the lower fishes and gradually disappears as fishes become more complex, but not entirely, since the condition exists in a few higher fishes. In addition, several species were lacking in the alpha-1-globulin fraction. There is an increase in complexity of plasma proteins from lower to higher fishes. The plasma proteins show specific differences and may be quite different in closely related fishes. The total plasma protein is lower than in mammals.