Investigating the Normal Digestive Canal Ultrasonography of Mature Persian Sturgeon for Providing Standard Approaches

Objective- This study was conducted to make a full understanding of the anatomic and ultrasonographic characteristics of digestive canal in Persian sturgeon and provide standard approaches for performing digestive tract ultrasonography on this sturgeon species. Design - Experimental study. Animals - 30 mature Persian sturgeons (Asipencer persicus) (15 females and 15 males). Procedures- A potable ultrasonography machine was used and proper approaches were chosen according to the anatomical examination. First the ultrasonography of the organs (out of the body) was carried underwater, then the ultrasonography of the alive fish was done. Finally, dissection was used to compare the anatomy and ultrasonography results. Results- There are folds on the internal surface of the esophagus. The esophageal wall was thin and hyperechoic with no clear layers. The proventriculus wall was visible as a completely hyperechoic layer in the region where it was attached to ventriculus. The muscular layer of the ventriculus was thicker than that of proventriculus. The pyloric caecum was seen to be located posterior to the ventriculus as a completely hypoechoic layer. The wall layers of the small intestine and spiral colon were comprised of the 4 parts. Conclusion and Clinical Relevance- The study presented a standard ultrasonography approach for the digestive canal of adult Persian sturgeon. The places of locating probe for digestive ultrasonography are between the pectoral fines for esophagus, liver, ventriculus, proventriculus, proximal part of the right pectoral fine for gallbladder and liver, distal part of the left pectoral fine for ventriculus and pyloric caecum, posterior to the pectoral fines for small intestine, anterior to pelvic fines for small intestine and spiral colon and between pelvic fines for rectum, spiral colon, connection between the rectum and spiral colon.