Histologia da pele do pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) e testes de resistência do couro

This work study the histology of skin of Piaractus mesopotamicus (Holmberg, 1887), and after tanning, the leather resistance. Dermis showed a superficial layer with thin, united and interlaced fibers and a inner layer with thinner and spacer fibers. When this layer keeped away from epidermis, the sheaf fibers became thicker, uniter and interlacer. The resistance to tension of body length was significatively inferior in longitudinal sense (5.93 N/mm) when compared with transversal sense (13.81 N/mm). The extension value until the rupture was superior (P0.05) to progressive tearing. The leather resistance to tension and extension was higher in transversal sense to body lenght of fish and there wasn’t difference to progressive tearing between the section analysed. Thus, the tension was 9.87 N/mm and 64.59% of elongation that are inside the standard require to clothes industry.