Morphological Description of the Green Turtle Tongue (Chelonia mydas)

Abstract

In chelonians, the gastrointestinal tract is anatomically diverse among the large variety of reptiles, and this fact requires further studies to understand their particularities. For that, four green turtles were used to find beached dead, for macroscopic and microscopic analysis using light and scanning microscopy in search of the description of their morphology. The tongue presented as a non-protuberant organ, with a rigid and highly keratinized aspect. Concluding that the morphological structure of the turtle's tongue is adapted according to its abrasive feeding during capture and swallowing of the food.