New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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The remarkable lungfish otolith

R. W. GAULDIE DIANNE DUNLOP JONATHON TSE

Fisheries Research Division Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries P. O. Box 297, Wellington New Zealand

Abstract Otoliths and macula from the Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The otoliths, corresponding to the sagitta and lapillus in teleosts, were found to consist of crystalline oto-conia consisting of calcite, aragonite, and a previously undescribed form of calcium carbonate bound in what appears to be a protein matrix. The inner-vation and hair-cell anatomy of the lungfish macula exactly parallels those of teleosts. Thus in function the otolith appears similar to teleosts, whereas its crystal complement has parallels in mammals, reptiles, and chondrichthyans.

Keywords otolith; macula; lungfish; Australia; Neoceratodus forsteri; otoconia

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1986, Vol. 20: 81-92 Received 15 June 1985; accepted 22 July 1985

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (4349K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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