Abstract
The nature and significance of water-soluble (small molecule) phosphates in vertebrate red blood cells are reviewed and new data presented for several fish including: three salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, Oncorhynchus kisutch and Oncorhynchus nerka), a mackerel (Scomber japonicus), a dogfish (Squalus acanthias), the ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei), and two air-breathing fish (Synbranchus marmoratus and Pterygoblichthys) studied on the research vessel Alpha Helix on the Amazon River. Of special interest was the wide variation in the ratio of guanosine triphosphate (GTP) to adenosine triphosphate (ATP); this ratio was much higher in some species of fish than had been reported for red cells of other vertebrates or, for that matter, for any other kind of tissue. The GTP may function in some fish as a regulator of haemoglobin–oxygen affinity.
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