Morphology and microchemistry of the otoliths of the inner ear of anuran larvae

BASSO, A., ,; PELTZER P.,; LAJMANOVICH, R.C.,; ATTADEMO A.M.,; C. M. JUNGES; CHIALVO D

HEARING RESEARCH.

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 p. 47 - 52

0378-5955

To navigate in space most vertebrates need precise positional cues provided by a variety of sensors,including structures in the inner ear, which are exquisitely sensitive to gravity and linear acceleration.Although these structures have been described in many vertebrates, no information is available foranuran larvae. The purpose of our study was to describe, for the first time, the size, complexity andmicrochemistry of the saccular otoliths of the larva of 13 anuran species from central Argentina, usingelectron microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy (N ¼ 65). We concluded that a) these structures differ inarea, perimeter, otolith relative size and fractal dimension, but are similar in terms of their microchemistrywhen compared by spatial guilds, b) that nektonic species have larger otoliths than nektonicbenthicand benthic species and c) that benthic species have larger otolith relative size than nektonicbenthicand nektonic species.