Transfer of passive immunity from mother to young in a teleost fish: haemagglutinating activity in the serum and eggs of plaice, Pleuronectes platessa L.

Plaice were immunized against rabbit red blood cells (rbc) and the haemagglutinating activity in their sera and eggs was isolated by gel filtration in Sephacryl S300 SF. A "heavy" (greater than 6.69 X 10(5) Daltons) and a "light" (less than 2.32 X 10(5) Daltons) component of haemagglutinating activity were present in plaice immune serum and eggs. The "heavy" haemagglutinating component had the characteristics of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody. By contrast the "light" component was suppressed greatly by monosaccharides but not by 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) and it was not precipitable against heterologous rabbit anti-plaice Ig immune serum. Since this "light" component was also identified in the serum and eggs of non-immunized plaice the activity was attributed to non-specific lectin-like activity. The presence of an inducible, high molecular weight, haemagglutinating Ig-like protein in plaice serum and eggs suggests the possibility of transfer of passive adaptive immunity from mother to young in this fish.