“…Some have been reported to be present in the mucous, suggesting they are part of primary defense against infectious agents, and as in higher vertebrates, have an essential role in innate immune response [7,8]. The hepcidin transcript has been identified as well as its expression in different teleost fish, as for example the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), the marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma), the orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides), the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and the European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) [9][10][11][12].…”