Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
Anatomisches Institut, Universitaet Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2023 Nov 1;154(5):2937-2949. doi: 10.1121/10.0022354.
There are substantial interspecific differences in the morphology of the ears of the more than 34 000 living fish species. However, almost nothing is known about the functional significance of these differences. One reason is that most comparative studies have been conducted on shallow-water species with far less focus on the numerous species that inhabit the depths of the oceans. Thus, to get a better sense of ear diversity in fishes and its potential role in hearing, this study focuses on the saccule and lagena, the primary auditory end organs, in six species of the family Macrouridae (rattails), a large group of fishes that typically inhabit depths from 1000 to 4000 m. The inner ears and, particularly, the saccules and lagenae in these species are large with the saccule resembling that of other Gadiformes. The lagenae of all macrourids studied here have serrated edge otoliths and highly diverse hair cell ciliary bundle shapes. The differences found in the inner ear anatomy of macrourids likely reflect the sensory advantages in different habitats that are related to the benefits and constraints at different depths, the fish's particular lifestyle, and the trade-off among different sensory systems.
现存的 34000 多种鱼类，其耳朵的形态在种间存在很大差异。然而，人们对这些差异的功能意义几乎一无所知。原因之一是，大多数比较研究都是在浅海物种上进行的，而对生活在海洋深处的众多物种的关注则要少得多。因此，为了更好地了解鱼类耳朵的多样性及其在听觉中的潜在作用，本研究集中研究了 6 种长尾鳕科（长尾鳕）鱼类的耳石囊和瓶状囊，这是一个通常栖息在 1000 至 4000 米深处的大型鱼类群体。这些物种的内耳，特别是耳石囊和瓶状囊都很大，其耳石囊类似于其他鳕形目鱼类的耳石囊。本研究中所有长尾鳕的瓶状囊都具有锯齿状的耳石边缘和高度多样化的毛细胞纤毛束形状。长尾鳕内耳解剖结构的差异可能反映了不同栖息地的感觉优势，这些优势与不同深度的益处和限制、鱼类的特殊生活方式以及不同感觉系统之间的权衡有关。
