Interrelationships Between Arteries, Veins and Lymphatics in the Head Region of the Eel, Anguilla anguilla L.

Vascular casting and dissection of fresh specimens had been used to investigate the arrangement of vessels before and after the gills in the head region of the eel. Arterial and venous morphology was found to be as reported in previous works, but the presence in the eel of a venous system that does not confom to the generalised teleost plan necessitated the use of a non‐standard nomenclature. The gills are the site of the connection of the arterial system with a second vascular system and it is suggested that this system should be termed the veno‐lymphatic system. The veno‐lymphatic system connects dorsally to the systemic lymphatic system and so to the internal jugular vein. Ventrally the veno‐lymphatic vessels from the first three gill arches are collected into a connective tissue sheath around the ventral aorta. The sheath is connected to a veno‐lymphatic sinus posterior to it which also collects the veno‐lymphatic of the fourth gill arch. This sinus then drains into the external jugular vein which at this point is the fusion of the left and right branches. These later separate and each branch contains a valve preventing flow towards the ventral aortic sheath. It is proposed that because of the form of this ventral route for veno‐lymphatic drainage, and the ease and completeness of filling of this route compared with the dorsal route, that the ventral veno‐lymphatic system is probably the primary route of drainage of veno‐lymphatic outflow from the gills.