Abstract

CABRERA A, Francisco; GARCIA C, Gisela C; GONZALEZ-VERA, María A  and  ROSSINI, Mario. Histological Characteristic of the Masculine Genital System of the Spectacled Cayman (Caiman crocodilus crocodilus).. Rev. Cient. (Maracaibo) [online]. 2007, vol.17, n.2, pp.123-130. ISSN 0798-2259.

An histological description of the male genital apparatus of 9 mature wild spectacled caimans (Caiman crocodilus crocodilus) from Apure Plains, Venezuela, was carried out; the samples obtained by necropsy were fixed in formalin to 10% buffered to pH 7.0 processed by means of the paraffin inclusion technique and stained with the routine Haematoxylin-Eosin and Mallory’s Tricromic stains. The most important discoveries were: great spermatogenic activity, evidence of granules of secretion whit acid-stain affinity in some cases, and without stain affinity in others, in different segments of the epididymis, presence of glands of mucous secretion in the ejaculatory groove, and great quantity of erectile tissue at level of this groove and along the penis.

Keywords : Histology; genital apparatus; Caiman crocodilus crocodilus.