title: Detection of zooplankton prey in squid paralarvae with immunoassay.
abstract: Sustainable management of economically important squid requires monitoring of changes in their abundance, which are related inter alia, to their success in the food chain. The highest mortality is expected in the paralarval stages, which are prone to starvation. Causes of starvation may be linked to the lack of suitable prey. A multiple detection system was developed for the simultaneous identification of five putative zooplankton prey in the guts of paralarval Chokka squid, Loligo vulgaris reynaudii, by employing polyclonal rabbit antisera in conjunction with solid phase immunoassays. Specificities of antisera were validated by ELISA screening against different zooplankton taxa. Cross-reactions observed with ELISA were minimized through manipulation of antibody and antigen concentrations resulting in more specific detection of target prey antigens when used in an immunodot assay. Application of this optimised immunoassay detected multiple predation in paralarval squid samples collected from diverse areas in the Agulhas Bank ecosystem on the south coast of South Africa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Kobus.Venter@bioagric.up.ac.za
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Venter
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Wyngaardt
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Verschoor
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lipiński
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Verheye
mesh_terms: D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D049832:Decapodiformes / Q000254:growth & development*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D007118:Immunoassay; D007814:Larva; D013217:Starvation; D015048:Zooplankton / Q000302:isolation & purification*