Figures & data
Figure 1 Intestinal fold morphology from the three different lakes.a, Lake Verde. Leaf‐shaped villi with a rounded apex, characteristic of Group 1; b, Lake Faro. Short lamellar ridges with a flattened apex, characteristic of Group 2; c, Lake Ganzirri. Long lamellar ridges with a flattened apex, characteristic of Group 3; d, Lake Ganzirri. Long lamellar ridges with a herring‐bone pattern, characteristic of Group 4. Scale bar, 200 µm.
Table I. Number of fishes from the different lakes showing fusion of the finger‐shaped folds to form ridges (Groups 1 to 4).
Figure 2 Percentages of the four intestinal fold morphology groups from the three different lakes: a, Lake Verde, b, Lake Faro and c, Lake Ganzirri.
Figure 3 Intestinal fold aspects at the SEM.a, Lake Verde, leaf‐shaped villi, Group 1; b, Lake Faro, short ridges with flattened apex, Group 2; c, Lake Ganzirri, V‐shaped long ridges, Group 3. Scale bars,100 µm.
Figure 4 Histomorphological aspects of the intestinal wall. Alcian–PAS. a, Lake Verde, normal intestinal folds (scale bar, 100 µm); b, Lake Ganzirri, ruffled intestinal folds (scale bar, 100 µm); c, Lake Verde, 24‐µm‐thick intestinal epithelium with numerous roundish mucous goblet cells. Arrowheads: Alcian Blue–PAS‐positive mucous cells, arrow: Alcian Blue‐positive mucous cells (scale bar, 20 µm); d, Lake Ganzirri, 34‐µm‐thick intestinal epithelium with small depleted Alcian Blue‐positive mucous cells (scale bar, 20 µm).
Figure 5 Percentage of the Alcian Blue‐, PAS‐ and Alcian Blue–PAS‐positive mucous goblet cells from the three different lakes: a, Lake Verde, b, Lake Faro and c, Lake Ganzirri.
Table II. Intestinal epithelial thickness (µm) of Liza aurata from the different environments (mean±SD).
Figure 6 MTs immunoreactive cells in the intestinal epithelium.a, Lake Ganzirri, numerous immunoreactive cells along the intestinal fold epithelium. Immunofluorescence; b, Lake Faro, a few immunoreactive cells at the base of the intestinal folds. Immunoperoxidase. Scale bars, 50 µm.