Histochemical studies on the mucosubstances in the gill of fresh water mussel, Parreysia corrugata var. nagpoorensis (Lea).

The present paper deals with the characterisation and distribution of the mucosubstances elaborated by the gill in fresh water mussel by employing recent well-established histochemical techniques. The results showed that the gill secretes the mucosubstances consisting of neutral mucins, sulfomucins, sialomucins and atypical high pH azurophilic mucosubstances having alcianophilia at pH = 5.6. Hyaluronic acid could not be detected. The importance of these mucins is discussed with reference to feeding.