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Investigation of gill mucus cells of Lake Van fish (Alburnus tarichi) during reproductive migration

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Abstract

Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey. It is one of the few soda lakes in the world. Its water is brackish and soda. The lake water has a salinity rate of 19‰ and a pH of 9.8. The salty-soda content of the lake greatly limits biodiversity. Since the Lake Van fish is anadromous, it migrates from the extreme conditions of Lake Van to the freshwater pouring into the lake to spawn. In the same way, once they have emerged from the eggs, the newly hatched fish return to the lake environment to feed again. In this study, the changes in Lake Van fish gill mucus cell histochemistry were examined using different histological stains. The area and density of the mucus cells were observed to have changed in the aquatic areas of different physicochemical properties due to reproductive migration. The intensity of the mucus staining was also found to vary in different aquatic locations and gill regions. As a result, it was clearly demonstrated that mucus cell glycoprotein contents and levels found in Lake Van fish gills varied in different lake freshwater and aquatic environments. In addition, it was determined that the area and density of the mucus cells varied during reproductive migration. It is thought that the change in mucus cells was caused by salinity, pH, and bacterial and parasitic infections encountered in different aquatic environments. These changes in the gill mucus cells play an important role in the aquatic adaptation of fish.

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All relevant data are within the paper, and those are available at the corresponding author.

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Funding

This research was supported by the Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Scientific Research Projects Department (FYL-2019-7879).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, 65080, Van, Turkey

    Zehra Alkan & Ahmet R. Oğuz

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  1. Zehra Alkan
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  2. Ahmet R. Oğuz
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Contributions

Ahmet Regaib Oğuz conceived the study and designed the experiments. Zehra Alkan carried out the experiments, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. Ahmet Regaib Oğuz wrote and revised the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ahmet R. Oğuz.

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All of the animal experimental procedures were performed in accordance with the animal study protocols approved by the Animal Researchers Local Ethic Committee of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University (protocol no: 2019/5) and the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (24/04/2018–11,602).

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Alkan, Z., Oğuz, A.R. Investigation of gill mucus cells of Lake Van fish (Alburnus tarichi) during reproductive migration. Fish Physiol Biochem 47, 409–419 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-020-00921-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-020-00921-6

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