Postmortem changes of the gill lamellae of fish
The fine structure of the gill lamellae of fish has been reported for several species. All of them consisted the same types of cells and showed the same characteristics. The structural change of the gill lamellae under natural condition, after death was not reported. This report is to present a study on that event.Gill filaments from cultured Anguilla japonica, Tilapia sp. and Chanos chanos, of marketing size, both fresh and dead for different length of time were studied. The samples were fixed with 3% glutaraldehyde and 1% osmic acid, dehydrated with ethanol, and embedded with Epon and Araldite mixture. Thin section were stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate. Observations were made with a JEOL 100 CX electron microscpe at 60 KV.The gill lamella of all three species studied showed similar fine stuctural characteristics . They consisted a central raw of pillar cells which formed the blood lumen. A layer of epithelium covered the outer surface . There was a prominent layer of basal limina between those two types of cells (Fig. 1). The epithelium showed degeneration first. It disintegrated and ditached from the basal lamina, and formed debris.