Anatomy of finfish and shellfish

Unit 4 - Gastro Intestinal Tract OR Digestive system and associated digestive glands

4.1.3. Intestine

The intestine too has many variations. It is shortened in carnivores such as in the pike (Erox), perhaps because meaty foods can be digested easily. Where as in herbivores the intestine is highly elongated and several times the body length of the fish and in carps and certain catfishes. In sharks and other elasmobrachs the intestine has a coiled layer of absorptive tissue called spiral valve which increase absorptive surfaces for the relatively in short intestine.