Spleen dimensions, mass and volume in turtles (Trachemys scrypta elegans, wied,1839)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to stabilish the spleen dimensions (lenght, width e thickness), mass and volume of turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans WIED, 1839). We used twenty animals from Instituto de Psicologia of Universidade de São Paulo, collected after euthanasia and were taken to the Anatomy Laboratory of the Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia at the same university. The corporal mass, volume and dimensions of the animals were taken. Then, the carapace was deduct and the spleen was removed for measurements. Despite the animals have been raised in the same place, under the same environment conditions and have been slaughtered at the same period of the year, we noticed that there isn´t any correlation between the spleen dimensions and the corporal dimensions, where, smaller animals can show their spleens in larger dimensions than big turtles, at the depends of individual conditions.