A microscopic study on the palatine mucosa of some river Nile Fishes (Oreochromis Niloticus And Clarias Gariepinus)‎

الملخص EN

This study was carried out on 12 mature fishes of Nile tilapia and 12 mature fishes of Cat fish.

The mucosa of the palate was dissected and prepared for light microscopy and for scanning electron microscopy.

According to the present investigation, the palatine mucosa in both Tilapia and Cat fish showed finger print- like structures as well as microridges on the surface of the uppermost epithelial layer.

Moreover several openings with different sizes were also observed on the surface of the palate, these openings were more numerous in Tilapia than in Cat fish.

The shape of the taste papillae were differed in both Tilapia and cat fish.

In Tilapia the epithelial layer of the palatine mucosa comprised two kinds of cells; mucous-secreting cells and ordinary epithelial cells, while in Cat fish it comprised four types of cells; the ordinary epithelial cells, the large club shaped cells, narrow tall cells not reach the epithelial surface and mucous-secreting cells.