Digestive Tract and the Muscular Pharynx/Esophagus in Wild Leptocephalus Larvae of European Eel (Anguilla anguilla)
Several aspects of the biology of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) larvae are still unknown; particularly, information about their functional development and feeding is sparse. In the present study, we histologically characterize the digestive system of wild caught specimens of European eel leptocep...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3053711 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.545217 |
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ftntnutrondheimi:oai:ntnuopen.ntnu.no:11250/3053711 2023-05-15T13:27:31+02:00 Digestive Tract and the Muscular Pharynx/Esophagus in Wild Leptocephalus Larvae of European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) Knutsen, Helene Rønquist Sørensen, Sune Riis Munk, Peter Bardal, Tora Kjørsvik, Elin 2021 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3053711 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.545217 eng eng Frontiers Frontiers in Marine Science. 2021, 8 (545217), . urn:issn:2296-7745 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3053711 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.545217 cristin:1963098 Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no CC-BY 14 8 Frontiers in Marine Science 545217 Peer reviewed Journal article 2021 ftntnutrondheimi https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.545217 2023-03-01T23:43:47Z Several aspects of the biology of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) larvae are still unknown; particularly, information about their functional development and feeding is sparse. In the present study, we histologically characterize the digestive system of wild caught specimens of European eel leptocephalus larvae. The aim was to provide more understanding about how food may be ingested and mechanically processed in the leptocephalus larvae, and to discuss this in the context of its hypothesized feeding strategy. Larvae were caught in the Sargasso Sea during the “Danish Eel Expedition 2014” with the Danish research vessel Dana. The larval sizes ranged from 7.0 to 23.3 mm standard length (SL) at catch. We found that the mouth/pharynx, especially the anterior esophagus, was surrounded by a multi-layered striated muscle tissue and that the epithelium in the mouth/pharynx had a rough filamentous surface, followed by epithelial columnar cells with multiple cilia in the anterior esophagus. This suggests an expandable pharynx/esophagus, well-suited for the transportation of ingested food and likely with a food-crushing or grinding function. The digestive tract of the larvae consisted of a straight esophagus and intestine ventrally aligned within the larval body, and its length was linearly correlated to the larval length (SL). The length of the intestinal part constituted up to 63% of the total length of the digestive tract. The intestinal epithelium had a typical absorptive epithelium structure, with a brush border and a well-developed villi structure. Some cilia were observed in the intestine, but any surrounding muscularis was not observed. The liver was observed along the posterior part of the esophagus, and pancreatic tissue was located anterior to the intestine. Our findings support the hypothesis that the eel leptocephalus may ingest easily digestible gelatinous plankton and/or marine snow aggregates. The muscular esophagus and the ciliated epithelium appear sufficient to ensure nutrient transport and absorption of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Anguilla anguilla NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Frontiers in Marine Science 8 |
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Open Polar |
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NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftntnutrondheimi |
language |
English |
description |
Several aspects of the biology of European eel (Anguilla anguilla) larvae are still unknown; particularly, information about their functional development and feeding is sparse. In the present study, we histologically characterize the digestive system of wild caught specimens of European eel leptocephalus larvae. The aim was to provide more understanding about how food may be ingested and mechanically processed in the leptocephalus larvae, and to discuss this in the context of its hypothesized feeding strategy. Larvae were caught in the Sargasso Sea during the “Danish Eel Expedition 2014” with the Danish research vessel Dana. The larval sizes ranged from 7.0 to 23.3 mm standard length (SL) at catch. We found that the mouth/pharynx, especially the anterior esophagus, was surrounded by a multi-layered striated muscle tissue and that the epithelium in the mouth/pharynx had a rough filamentous surface, followed by epithelial columnar cells with multiple cilia in the anterior esophagus. This suggests an expandable pharynx/esophagus, well-suited for the transportation of ingested food and likely with a food-crushing or grinding function. The digestive tract of the larvae consisted of a straight esophagus and intestine ventrally aligned within the larval body, and its length was linearly correlated to the larval length (SL). The length of the intestinal part constituted up to 63% of the total length of the digestive tract. The intestinal epithelium had a typical absorptive epithelium structure, with a brush border and a well-developed villi structure. Some cilia were observed in the intestine, but any surrounding muscularis was not observed. The liver was observed along the posterior part of the esophagus, and pancreatic tissue was located anterior to the intestine. Our findings support the hypothesis that the eel leptocephalus may ingest easily digestible gelatinous plankton and/or marine snow aggregates. The muscular esophagus and the ciliated epithelium appear sufficient to ensure nutrient transport and absorption of ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Knutsen, Helene Rønquist Sørensen, Sune Riis Munk, Peter Bardal, Tora Kjørsvik, Elin |
spellingShingle |
Knutsen, Helene Rønquist Sørensen, Sune Riis Munk, Peter Bardal, Tora Kjørsvik, Elin Digestive Tract and the Muscular Pharynx/Esophagus in Wild Leptocephalus Larvae of European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) |
author_facet |
Knutsen, Helene Rønquist Sørensen, Sune Riis Munk, Peter Bardal, Tora Kjørsvik, Elin |
author_sort |
Knutsen, Helene Rønquist |
title |
Digestive Tract and the Muscular Pharynx/Esophagus in Wild Leptocephalus Larvae of European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) |
title_short |
Digestive Tract and the Muscular Pharynx/Esophagus in Wild Leptocephalus Larvae of European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) |
title_full |
Digestive Tract and the Muscular Pharynx/Esophagus in Wild Leptocephalus Larvae of European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) |
title_fullStr |
Digestive Tract and the Muscular Pharynx/Esophagus in Wild Leptocephalus Larvae of European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Digestive Tract and the Muscular Pharynx/Esophagus in Wild Leptocephalus Larvae of European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) |
title_sort |
digestive tract and the muscular pharynx/esophagus in wild leptocephalus larvae of european eel (anguilla anguilla) |
publisher |
Frontiers |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3053711 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.545217 |
genre |
Anguilla anguilla |
genre_facet |
Anguilla anguilla |
op_source |
14 8 Frontiers in Marine Science 545217 |
op_relation |
Frontiers in Marine Science. 2021, 8 (545217), . urn:issn:2296-7745 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3053711 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.545217 cristin:1963098 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.545217 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
8 |
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1766398844451422208 |