Abstract:
Sinobdella sinensis Bleeker1870 widely distributes in the subtrophic freshwater of China and Vietnam, however, the morphology and histology of the digestive system of
S. sinensis have not been reported yet. In the present study, morphological and histological characteristics of the digestive system of
S. sinensis were studied by vivisection and histological observation. The results showed that
S. sinensis has a stomach but no pneumatic duct. The digestive tract is short and about 45% of the body length with a "Z"-shape. The esophagus is short and connected to the stomach which constitutes cardiac fundus and pyloricus parts. The glandular tissue is abundantly distributed from the end of esophagus to the fundus of stomach. The cardiac stomach occupies 23% of the whole stomach in length. However, abundant glandular tissues are only distributed in the cardiac part of esophagus. The structure of each part of the digestive tract is significantly differenct. In anterior gastric part, the ratio of gastrointestinal internal-circular muscle layer to external-longitudinal muscle layer gradually increased and the number of goblet cells decreased and completely opposite observations occurd in posterior gastric part. The digestive glands included liver and pancreas, but no diffused pancreas tissue occurred in liver or spleen, like other Cyprinidae fish. Therefore, our results indicated that
Sinobdella sinensis is a typical carnivorous fish and prey on
Macrobranchium nipponense and
Exopalaemon modestus as the main food.