Total and free thyroid hormones in plasma of tropical marine teleost fish

Plasma levels of L-thyroxine (T4) and 3,5,3'-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) and the percentage of plasma T4 and T3 present in the free (dialyzable) form (%FT4 and %FT3) were measured in 16 species (11 families) of tropical marine teleosts from an inshore Barbados reef. Mean plasma T4 varied from 0.2 ng/ml to 42 ng/ml; mean plasma T3 varied from < 0.2 ng/ml to 50 ng/ml. The highest T4 and T3 levels were recorded in parrot-fish and the lowest levels in filefish. The %oFT4 and %FT3 varied from 0.05-3.41%. Estimated levels of plasma free T4 and free T3 levels ranged from 0.4-466 pg/ml. The extremely wide inter- and intra-species ranges in levels of free T4 and T3 do not support a previous suggestion, based on temperate freshwater salmonid species, that free T4 and T3 levels in fish may fall within a relatively range narrow comparable to that of homeothermic vertebrates.