Anatomical and Tissue Study of the Organs of the Marine Gastropod Phorcus lineatus (Da Costa, 1778) from El Jadida Coastline (Atlantic coast, Morocco)

This study was part of the monitoring of the state of health of Morocco's Atlantic coasts through bio-indicator species of pollution. The marine gastropod Phorcus lineatus (Da Costa, 1778) was the biological material of choice, given its wide geographical distribution, its abundance even in polluted areas, its reduced mobility and its important role in the food chain. The objective of this work was to describe for the first time the anatomy of the marine gastropod Phorcus lineatus from the coast of El Jadida with a view to initiating a short-term bioaccumulation study in this same species. Specimens of the gastropod were collected at low tide in the intertidal zone from June 2018 to May 2019. Both macroscopic and microscopic observations were made at the level of the various organs and histological sections made. The organization and layout of the various devices were well analyzed and reported in illustrations in the results section. In addition, the general structure and the tissue and cytological constitution of the different organs were described on the basis of the good quality of the histological sections. The data obtained provided a better knowledge about the internal and external morphology on the one hand and the cellular organization in different devices of P. lineatus from the coast of El Jadida on the other hand.