Deiodinases are major determinants of thyroid hormone tissue availability and disposal. The knowledge of the expression of these enzymes in lower species is important to understand evolutionary and ontogenetic aspects of thyroid hormone action and metabolism. Here we have studied outer ring deiodination in the trout liver using both reverse T3 (rT3) and T4 as substrates. The use of rT3 disclosed two enzymatic components with the characteristics of mammalian types I and II 5'-deiodinases. The high rT3-K(m) type I 5'-deiodinase activity (180 nM) has a low cofactor requirement (5 mM dithiothreitol) and is relatively sensitive to propylthiouracil inhibition, whereas the low rT3-K(m) activity was akin to the outer ring deiodination of T4 in these regards. The use of T4 exhibited only a single type of activity with a low K(m) (0.63 nM), a relatively high cofactor requirement (25 mM dithiothreitol), and propylthiouracil-resistance. Teleosts constitute a unique example of type II activity expression in the liver of an adult vertebrate. Furthermore, the Vmax of this enzyme is as high as that found in comparable homogenates from hypothyroid mammalian tissues, whereas the Vmax of the type I activity is lower than that of mammalian liver. These findings are in consonance with the peculiar kinetics of T3 in trout liver, kinetics remarkably similar to those of the mammalian pituitary, cerebral cortex, and brown adipose tissue, which also preferentially express type II deiodinase.