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Diversity of Inner Ears in Fishes: Possible Contribution Towards Hearing Improvements and Evolutionary Considerations

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Fish Hearing and Bioacoustics

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 877))

Abstract

Fishes have evolved the largest diversity of inner ears among vertebrates. While G. Retzius introduced us to the diversity of the gross morphology of fish ears in the late nineteenth century, it was A. N. Popper who unraveled the large variety of the fine structure during the last four decades. Modifications of the basic inner ear structure—consisting of three semicircular canals and their sensory epithelia, the cristae and three otolithic end organs (utricle, saccule, lagena) including the maculae—mainly relate to the saccule and lagena and the respective sensory epithelia, the macula sacculi and macula lagenae. Despite the profound morphological knowledge of inner ears and the morphological variability, the functional significance of this diversity is still largely unknown. The aims of this review are therefore twofold. First it provides an update of the state of the art of inner ear diversity in bony fishes. Second it summarizes and discusses hypotheses on the evolution of this diversity as well as formulates open questions and promising approaches to tackle these issues.

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Acknowledgements

This review is dedicated to Arthur N. Popper and Richard R. Fay to celebrate more than 40 years of their influential work in fish bioacoustics. The second author is grateful for having had the opportunity to work with Art in his lab in the late 1990s on inner ears of labyrinth fishes and in this way became introduced into the field of inner ear structure in fishes. The first author was fundamentally inspired by Art’s early studies on cave-dwelling forms of the Mexican tetra Astyanax mexicanus and his numerous works on inner ear structures and his evolutionary hypotheses. Moreover, the first author worked in the second author’s lab on inner ears, ancillary auditory structures and auditory sensitivities and thus became in some way Art’s scientific “granddaughter.” Art’s lifelong interest in the diversity and evolution of fish inner ears and hearing is continued by us and by others. Our current review, largely based on Art’s work of almost 50 years, summarizes this diversity and highlights open questions and inspiring approaches that might lead to novel and deeper insights into this challenging and highly interesting field of research.

We are also grateful to Michael Stachowitsch for scientific English proof-reading and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this chapter.

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  1. Department Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Großhaderner Strasse 2, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany

    Tanja Schulz-Mirbach

  2. Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Friedrich Ladich

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  1. Tanja Schulz-Mirbach
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Correspondence to Tanja Schulz-Mirbach .

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Joseph A. Sisneros

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Schulz-Mirbach, T., Ladich, F. (2016). Diversity of Inner Ears in Fishes: Possible Contribution Towards Hearing Improvements and Evolutionary Considerations. In: Sisneros, J. (eds) Fish Hearing and Bioacoustics. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 877. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21059-9_16

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