Gill Morphology in the Red Swamp Freshwater Crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Crustacea: Decapoda: Cambarids) (Girard 1852) from the River Nile and its Branches in Egypt

Abstract

© 2016, Universidad de la Frontera. All rights reserved. The aim of the present study was focused on and describes the gross morphological and scanning electron microscopical features of the gill of the red swamp freshwater crayfish. Our results noted that: all gills have the same general structure and appearance. The gill consists of axis with numerous finger-like filaments, having three morphological types; round, pointed and somewhat hooked shaped. There is a variation in the direction of filaments according to their position, in middle part were nearly perpendicular to gill axis while in the apex were nearly parallel to axis. There were characteristic system of gill spines on central axis, basal plate, setobranch and on the bilobed epipodal plate. There are four shape of spinated-like parts of setobranch seta, two pointed processes and two broad processes. The bilobed epipodal plate is devoid from any filaments and under SEM, its apical part has serrated free border and corrugated surface while the middle part has no serrated free border.