Morphological Description of the Green Turtle Tongue (Chelonia mydas)
Descrição da Língua da Tartaruga Verde de Peruíbe-SP
Avaliacao Lingua Tartaruga Verde
Abstract – In chelonians, the gastrointestinal tract is
anatomically diverse among the large variety of reptiles,
and this fact requires further studies to understand their
particularities. For that, four green turtles were used to
find beached dead, for macroscopic and microscopic
analysis using light and scanning microscopy in search of
the description of their morphology. The tongue presented
as a non-protuberant organ, with a rigid and highly
keratinized aspect. Concluding that the morphological
structure of the turtle’s tongue is adapted according to its
abrasive feeding during capture and swallowing of the
food.
Keywords— microscopy, morphology, chelonians,
keratin.
