• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.159-164
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• 1992

The skin of fishes is also the important external barrier against a variety of the environmental detrimental agents, allowing normal internal physiological function, so its condition is very important in many disease processes. Since fishes are aquatic, morphologically and physiologically they posses specific characteristics lacking in terrestial animals. Thus, it is necessary to keep in mind various specific histologic characteristics for a precise interpretation of the histopathological lesions. In the normal environment the fish skin is more subtly adapted for its physiological requirements as a limiting barrier than the skin of higher terrestial vertebrates. However, its delicacy makes it high vulnerable to damage in fish culture facilities or polluted waters. Although changes in the skin of fish such as discoloration, ulcerative lesions, are the the most readily observed clinical features of fish, there is a wide variety of possible responses, which are best considered in terms of their site within the skin. Up to now, there are relatively few sytematically described information on the histological structure of the teleost skin as well as integrated reviews of the range of pathological processes that can occur in teleost skin. Therefore it was tried in this article to rearrange the information already described by other investigators on the histological structure and histopathological changes of teleost skin.