HISTOPATHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF AN AGRO - CHEMICAL METACID 50 IN THE OLIGOCHAETE TUBIFEX

Exposure of the specimens of Tubifex in the media contaminated with LC50 concentration of the pesticide. Metacid 50 caused several structural deformities in their internal organs. The main organs affected were epidermis, coelomic epithelium, pharyngeal glands (showing disorganized condition) gut wall (revealing disintegrated internal epithelial lining in some positions) and also in nephridial structures. Nevertheless, structural deformities occurred also in the gonads and their associated structures, as there was loss of consistency in the pattern of digital ovarian lobes and in the cytoplasmic contents of the ova as well as of the spermatogonia, showing some sort of debacle in the reproductive potentiality.