Histological and histochemical study of digestive tract in Zarde Fish, Capoeta damascina, in Sezar river, Lorestan Province

The Zarde fish, Capoeta damascina is an carp fishes with no remarkable research concerning its biology. Regarding the important role of digestive tract in survival of animals we tried to study this aspect of the taxon’s biology. To perform this task, specimens were collected from Sezar River and the biometric characters of them were measured. Following that their digestive tract were removed and small pieces of different parts of digestive system were prepared for histological examinations. Anatomical and histological studies performed here revealed that the digestive tract consists of two main parts; esophagus and intestine. The wall of this tract is composed of the mucosa, submucosa, muscularis and serosa. Goblet cells of the both parts reacted positively to periodic acid schiff and alcian blue stains. In general, the results demonstrated that from histological and histochemical standpoint, the digestive tract of Zarde fish is similar to what reported in other species.