Biomaterial Database

Architecture of the lateral line organ of the sea eel Conger myriaster. 1995

Y Tsukamoto, and H Tateyama, and S Oohigashi

Department of Anatomy, Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan.

The architecture of trunk canal neuromasts of the Japanese sea eel was morphologically examined. A fluid-filled canal is connected with the outside by horn-shaped tubules whose outer openings are seen as pores, which are variable in shape and very narrow as compared to the canal diameter. A projection shaped like a semilunar valve hangs over each neuromast from the opposite wall. The total number of hair cells in a canal neuromast was 500 to 600, about fivefold more numerous than that in a superficial neuromast. Two groups of hair cells, rostrally and caudally oriented, are nearly equal in number. The observed architectures are thought to favor efficient detection of the flow of water within the canal. These findings substantiate the current understanding that each canal neuromast encodes the pressure difference between two adjacent pores.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008854	Microscopy, Electron	Microscopy using an electron beam, instead of light, to visualize the sample, thereby allowing much greater magnification. The interactions of ELECTRONS with specimens are used to provide information about the fine structure of that specimen. In TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY the reactions of the electrons that are transmitted through the specimen are imaged. In SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY an electron beam falls at a non-normal angle on the specimen and the image is derived from the reactions occurring above the plane of the specimen.	Electron Microscopy
D004524	Eels	Common name for an order (Anguilliformes) of voracious, elongate, snakelike teleost fishes.	Anguilliformes,Eel
D006198	Hair Cells, Auditory	Sensory cells in the organ of Corti, characterized by their apical stereocilia (hair-like projections). The inner and outer hair cells, as defined by their proximity to the core of spongy bone (the modiolus), change morphologically along the COCHLEA. Towards the cochlear apex, the length of hair cell bodies and their apical STEREOCILIA increase, allowing differential responses to various frequencies of sound.	Auditory Hair Cells,Cochlear Hair Cells,Auditory Hair Cell,Cell, Cochlear Hair,Cells, Cochlear Hair,Cochlear Hair Cell,Hair Cell, Auditory,Hair Cell, Cochlear,Hair Cells, Cochlear
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia