Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Scanning and transmission electron microscopy of the squamose gill-filament epithelium from fresh- and seawater adaptedTilapia

  • Published:
Environmental Biology of Fishes Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Synopsis

The architecture of the gill structure of variousTilapia species was studied in relation to their adaptability to hypersaline media. Using SEM and EM, it was shown that the squamose epithelial cells of the gills have species-typical patterns of ridges on their outer surfaces. These have previously been misinterpreted by other authors as microvilli or stereocillia. The ridges are more dense and better developed in euryhaline species, likeT. zillii, and less so in stenohaline species likeSarotherodon niloticus. Comparing freshwater and seawater-adapted individuals ofT. zillii, S. niloticus, S. galflaeus, andTristramella sacra, it was shown that in fresh water the surface cells are slightly swollen, extending over the openings of the chloride cells. During adaptation to sea water, these ridges become higher and denser and the cell surface shrinks, exposing the underlying orifices of the apical crypts of the chloride cells. The more euryhaline the species, the less change there is in the ridge pattern of the cells during passage from fresh to sea water. This evidence implicates the gill epithelium, together with the chloride cells, in the process of osmoregulation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References cited

  • Berridge, M. J. & J. L. Oschman 1972. Transporting epithelia. Academic Press, New York. 91 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, R., Z. Yaron & Z. Ilan. 1977. An ultrastructural study of the mitochondria-rich ‘chloride’ cells from the gills of freshwater and seawater adaptedTilapia aurea subjected to a pesticide. J. Fish Biol. 11: 589–594.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Collette, B. B. 1977. Epidermal breeding tubercles and bony contact organs in fishes. Symp. Zool. Soc. Lond. 39: 225–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobbs, G. H. 1975. Scanning electron microscopy of intraovarian embryos of the vivparous fish,Micrometrus minimum (Gibbons) (Perciformes, Embiotocidae) J. Fish Biol. 7: 209–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, W. & D. Gorecki. 1962. The so-called chloride cell of the fish gill. Phys. Zool. 34: 81–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishelson, L. 1966. Cichlid fish of the genusTilapia in Israel. Bamidge 18: 67–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishelson, L. & Y. Loya. 1969. Experiments on rearingTilapia hybrids in brackish water ponds near the Dead Sea. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 17: 602–610.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishelson, L. & D. Popper. 1968. Experiments on rearing fish in salt water near the Dead sea, Israel. FAO Fisheries Reports 44: 244–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, C. R. & P. L. Nayudu. 1978 Surface folds in superficial epidermal cells of three species of teleost fish. J. Fish. Biol. 12: 163–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karnaky, K. J., Jr. & W. B. Kinter. 1977. Killifish opercular skin: a flat epithelium with a high density of chloride cells. J. Exp. Zool. 199: 355–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karnaky, K. J. Jr., E. A. Stephen & C. W. Philpott. 1976. Teleost chloride cell. I. Response of pupfishCyprinodon variegatus gill Na, K, ATPase and chloride cell fine structure to various high salinity environments. J. Cell. Biol. 70: 144–146.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kessel, R. G. & H. W. Beams. 1962. Electron microscope studies on the gill filaments ofFundulus heteroclitus from sea water and fresh water, with special reference to the ultrastructural organisation of the ‘chloride cell’. J. Ultrastruct. Res. 6: 77–87.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lanzing, W. J. R. & D. R. Higginbotham. 1974. Scanning microscopy of surface structures ofTilapia mossambica (Peters) scales. J. Fish Biol. 6: 307–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M. & P. W. A. Towell. 1973. The structure of the gill of the trout,Salmo gairdneri (Richardson). Z. Zellforsch. 142: 147–162.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Petrik, P. 1968. The demonstration of chloride ions in the ‘chloride cells’ of the gills of eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) adapted to sea water. Z. Zellforsch. 92: 422–427.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Philpott, C. W. & D. E. Copeland. 1963. Fine structure of chlorine cells from three species ofFundulus. J. Cell Biol. 18: 389–404.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shirai, N. & S. Utida. 1970. Development and degeneration of the chloride cell during seawater and freshwater adaptation in the Japanese eelAnguilla japonica. Z. Zellforsch. 103: 247–264.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, L. P. 1963. A study of the fine structure of the socalled chloride cell in the gill of the guppy,Lebistes reticulatus. Phys. Zool. 34: 183–198.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Lev Fishelson

Authors
  1. Lev Fishelson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fishelson, L. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy of the squamose gill-filament epithelium from fresh- and seawater adaptedTilapia . Environ Biol Fish 5, 161–165 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02391623

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02391623

Keywords

Search

Navigation