Feeding ecology of anguilliform leptocephali considering the structure and proximate composition of food organisms and gut contents

Abstract Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation and component analysis were conducted out on the gut contents of wild larvae fed particulate organic matter (POM) and cultured larvae fed on available microorganisms to determine the physical characteristics and nutritional contributions of biological species that are presumed to be food elements of anguilliform leptocephali. There were no traces of food organisms, such as autofluorescence of algae and faecal pellets, or carcasses of zooplankton in the gut contents of wild larvae. The gut contents of both wild and cultured larvae were light brown sols or gels and were composed of amorphous substances consisting mainly of carbohydrates, proteins and amino acids. The structural properties of the gut contents of cultured larvae were similar to those of POM in environmental water; mucus secreted from the intestinal epithelium was also present. These results suggest that low-molecular-weight saccharides, proteins, and amino acids produced by algae and bacteria may be among the available nutritional sources of eel larvae and that the mucus layer of the intestinal epithelium contributes to a feeding mode that effectively captures microparticles from environmental water. Taken together, the results of recent surveys suggest that pico- and nanosized POMs, which are ubiquitous in environmental waters and are easily swallowed and easily digestible and absorbable, i.e., substances produced by algae and bacteria that account for a high proportion of marine biomass and dissolved organic matter (DOM), may be directly utilized by the intestinal epithelium through pinocytosis without microbial degradation.