Adaptation of the gill epithelium of an euryhaline fish, the guppy (Poecilia vivipara), to freshwater

Authors

  • Simone Maria Teixeira de Sabóia-Moraes Universidade Federal de Goiás, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Morfologia, Goiânia, GO
  • Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina, Departamento de Patologia, São Paulo, SP
  • José Roberto Machado Cunha da Silva Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Biologia Celular e do Desenvolvimento, São Paulo, SP
  • Áureo Tatsumi Yamada Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Histologia e Embriologia, Campinas, SP
  • Thiago Pinheiro Arrais Aloia Universidade Federal de Goiás, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Morfologia, Goiânia, GO
  • Francisco Javier Hernandez-Blazquez Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Departamento de Cirurgia, Setor de Anatomia, São Paulo, SP

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/S1413-95962011000100001

Keywords:

Guppy, Gills, Salinity, Mucous cells, Morphology

Abstract

The south-american euryhaline fish Poecilia vivipara (BLOCH; SNEIDER, 1801), the guppy, is found both in estuary and river waters, which suggests high adaptability to environments of different salinity. In this work we studied the adaptation of the interlamellar, bars and rakers epithelia of the gills of estuary fish to freshwater conditions. The results reveal that the gill epithelia of Poecilia vivipara can adjust itself to freshwater by decreasing the VP of mucous cells of the interlamellar epithelium and increase the volumetric proportion (VP) of chloride cells. However, there was no evidence of similar morphological alteration in the rakers region. The epithelia of the rakers appears to be part of a different compartment that is less sensitive to variation of salinity.

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Published

2011-02-01

Issue

Vol. 48 No. 1 (2011)

Section

UNDEFINIED

License

The journal content is authorized under the Creative Commons  BY-NC-SA  license (summary of the license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 | full text of the license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode) 

How to Cite

1.
Sabóia-Moraes SMT de, Saldiva PHN, Silva JRMC da, Yamada Áureo T, Aloia TPA, Hernandez-Blazquez FJ. Adaptation of the gill epithelium of an euryhaline fish, the guppy (Poecilia vivipara), to freshwater. Braz. J. Vet. Res. Anim. Sci. [Internet]. 2011 Feb. 1 [cited 2026 Sep. 28];48(1):5-13. Available from: https://revistas.usp.br/bjvras/article/view/34370