Effects of crude oil on the air-breathing organs of the striped gourami, Colisa fasciatus: a SEM study.

Pathological effects of crude oil on the air-breathing organs of the striped gourami, Colisa fasciatus, were studied using SEM. Buccal epithelium appeared to be more sensitive to crude oil than epithelia of the suprabranchial chamber and the labyrinthine organ. Lower doses of crude oil caused mucous cell hyperplasia, shrinkage of respiratory epithelium, and telangiectasis of blood capillaries in the air-breathing organs. Manifestations of lethal pathological effects including mucous cell hypertrophy, lesions, and sloughing of air-breathing epithelium increased with increasing crude oil concentration and exposure period.