The Accessory Nasal Sacs of Flatfishes: Systematic Significance and Functional Implications
The morphology of the sensory and accessory nasal sacs in the cynoglossid Symphurus are described and compared to that in representatives of other flatfish genera. The flounders examined typically have one or two pairs of symmetric or asymmetric accessory nasal sacs with the
exception of the rhombosoleids which have reduced accessory nasal sacs. A fused, median accessory nasal sac is found only in the Soleidae + Cynoglossidae, and is thus considered a synapomorphy of these two families. In flounders movements of the cranial skeleton compress the accessory nasal
sacs thus ventilating the nasal epithelia. In soleids and cynoglossids the unique configuration of the fused, median accessory nasal sac suggests that pressure fluctuations in the buccal cavity that arise during cyclic gill ventilation are transmitted across the dorsal roof of the buccal cavity
into the median accessory nasal sac and that the water movements generated that may simultaneously ventilate the olfactory epithelia of both the eyed and blind sides. The diversity of nasal ventilatory mechanisms used by teleosts are discussed.
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 January 1993
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