Gut morphology of developing Malaysian river catfish Mystus nemurus (Cuvier and Valenciennes) larvae

• Main Authors: El Hag, Ghada Ahmed, Kamarudin, Mohd Salleh, Saad, Che Roos, Daud, Siti Khalijah
• Format: Article
• Language: English; English
• Published: Marsland Press 2012
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/23833/1/Gut%20morphology%20of%20developing%20Malaysian%20River%20Catfish%20Mystus%20Nemurus.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/23833/; http://www.jofamericanscience.org/journals/am-sci/am0802/
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

This study was conducted to monitor ontogenetic changes in the gut morphology of Malaysian river catfish, Mystus nemurus during larval development. Fish larvae were reared in three 1 ton fiberglass tanks. During the study, the larvae were fed on Artemia nauplii at 5 organisms ml feeding-1 from the start of exogenous feeding (4 DAH). The morphological development of the gut in M. nemurus larvae was observed using a profile projector and a light microscope for a 21 days period. At hatching and during the yolk absorption period, the gut was a simple, straight, undifferentiated tube throughout its length. By 4-5 DAH, the gut differentiated to the esophagus, stomach, and intestine which coincided to the commencement of exogenous feeding. Strong (GL = 0.3179TL-0.1412, R2 = 0.9284) relationship was found between gut length (GL) and total length (TL) of fish.