A STUDY OF THE HISTOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT OF THE JUVENILE GLOBEFISH, Fugu rubipes

The histology and morphology of the digestive tract of the juvenile globefish, Fugu rubipes, is described by using the light microscope, TEM(Transmission Electron Microscope) and SEM(Scanning Electron Microscope). The digestive tract of Fugu rubipes consists of oral pharyngeal cavity, oesophagus, stomach, intestine, and rectum distinctly. And the digestive tract is a four layer tissue which is compared of mucosa, submucosa, muscularis and serosa. The oral pharyngeal cavity and the fore oesophagus is covered with stratified squamous epithelium, the goblet cells, mucosal cells and taste buds are also present in here. In the hind oesophagus, stomach, intestine and rectum, the mucosal epithelium consists of the single layered columnar epithelium. The J shaped stomach has no gastric glands, but there lies a special kind of secreting cells. The Z shaped mucosal fold is well developed in the fore intestine, but undeveloped in the hind intestine, however the mucosal fold of the rectum is also well developed with a kind of single convex papillate. The sphincter muscle lies in the joints between oesophagus and stomach, stomach and intestine, intestine and rectum.