1Kansai Environmental Engineering Center Co. Ltd. Osaka, Osaka 541-0052, 2Department of Marine Bioscience, Fukui Prefectural University, Obama, Fukui 917-0003, 3Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Nakano, Tokyo 164-8639 Japan
To confirm the efficacy of identification of pelagic fish eggs by the monoclonal antibody method, we examined the reactivity of a monoclonal antibody (MT-1) which was made from Pagrus major eggs as an antigen against eggs of the same and related species and also pelagic fish eggs collected in the coastal area of Wakasa Bay. MT-1 showed positive reaction against all the eggs from different parents of P. major but no reaction against Sparus sarba, Acanthopagrus schlegeli and Dentex tumifrons. Further, MT-1 did not react at all with eggs of eight kinds of pelagic fish except those of P. major collected in the coastal area of Wakasa Bay nor with pelagic fish eggs collected in July after the end of P. major spawning season. From these results, it was confirmed that the MT-1 reacts specifically to the eggs of P. major, and it was clarified that the monoclonal antibody method is applicable for the identification of pelagic fish eggs that are difficult to identify with conventional methods.