The activity of chitinolytic enzymes in the stomach or foregut of 29 North European marine and freshwater fish were determined. No correlation with a chitin‐eating feeding habit was observed but species that were able to mechanically disrupt prey had low activity while species that ingest prey whole had high activity. The primary function of gastric chitinase in fish may be to chemically disrupt the chitinous envelope of prey.
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Gabriel J.H. Lindsay (1984) studied this question.
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