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Comparative Morphological Study Of Otoliths In Taiwanese Anguilliformes Fishes, Abbie K. Chulin, Hong-Ming Chen

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

Otoliths are calcareous structures found in the labyrinth membrane in the otic capsules of teleost fishes and are constituted of three pairs: the sagittae, lapilli and asterisci. They have long been recognized as being species specific. A comparative morphology of the sagittae, asterisci and lapilli among six eel species of Anguilliformes belonging to the Family Congridae, Muraenesocidae and Muraenidae was studied. A total of 64 specimens belonging to Bathyconger wallacei (n = 23), Conger japonicus (n = 9), Muraenesox cinereus (n = 10), Echidna polyzona (n = 4), Gymnothorax eurostus (n = 4) and Gymnothorax reticularis (n = 14) were …