Bile salts of the lungfishes Lepidosiren, Neoceratodus and Protopterus and those of the coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae Smith

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Abstract
Bile salts of the coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae Smith (5 specimens) and of the 3 living genera of lungfish (Dipnoi) were examined as completely as possible and compared. The small bile acid fractions included no more than traces of well-known C27 or C24 acids (free or conjugated) and the functioning bile salts must be regarded as alcohol sulfates. Comparison of the alcohols suggested that: Latimeria was biochemically outside the group which included the Dipnoi; Protopterus and Lepidosiren were more closely related to one another than either was to Neoceratodus; all 4 primitive osteichtheans had some amphibian affinities; there were affinities between Latimeria and Dipnoi and ostariophysian families (especially Cyprinidae and Catostomidae); and there were biochemical links beteen Dipnoi and lampreys.