A new type of fish olfactory organ structure in Periophthalmus barbarus (Oxudercinae)

Abstract

Kuciel, M., Żuwała, K., Jakubowski, M. 2011. A new type of fish olfactory organ structure in Periophthalmus barbarus (Oxudercinae). —Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 92: 276–280. The study describes a new type of olfactory organ structure in teleost fish, the Atlantic mudskipper Periophthalmus barbarus (Gobiidae). The nasal cavity in this species consists of a tube-like elongated canal widening to a chamber-like sac in the preorbital part of the head. The olfactosensory epithelium (studied by light and electron microscopy) occurs only in the form of islets located along the medial wall of the tube-like part of the organ. The presence of a chamber-like sac without an olfactory rosette or olfactosensory epithelium suggests that a mechanism allowing water circulation is in operation.