Morphological features of the seismosensory system of thornfishes of the family Bovichtidae (Perciformes)

S.V. Zhdanov

Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS, 2025, 329(2): 152–169 · https://doi.org/10.31610/trudyzin/2025.329.2.152

Full text

Abstract

Sensory system of the notothenioid fishes of the family Bovichtidae was studied for the first time, and the topography of seismosensory canals was described for species of the genus Bovichtus Valenciennes in Cuvier et Valenciennes, 1832: B. diacanthus Carmichael, 1810, B. psychrolutes Günther, 1861, B. angustifrons Regan, 1913 and B. oculus Hardy, 1988, as well as for representatives of two other genera of the family – Cottoperca Steindachner, 1875 and Halaphritis Last, Balushkin et Hutchins, 2002, inhabiting notal waters of the Southern Hemisphere. The topography of canals between the studied genera and species of the family Bovichtidae were compared and their diagnostic features and differences were defined. Particular attention is paid to the structure of the bones through which the canals pass, namely: bony elements of the periorbital ring, shoulder girdle (posttemporale and supratemporale), neurocranium (parietale, supraoccipitale, extrascapulare laterale and nasale) and peripheral structures (tubules and pores) of both different species and genera. For the genus Bovichtus the following direction of evolutionary transformations is revealed in B. diacanthus – B. veneris – B. psychrolutes – B. oculus: reduction of peripheral structures on the head, reduction of bony roof on the most part of occipital commissure and elongated form of segments with notch for tubule from lateral. Neotenic characters were found in B. oculus, which was earlier reduced to synonymy with B. psychrolutes – main pores in the preopercle-mandibular canal, long stretch of supraorbital canal in nasale and less development of cutaneous structures of sensory canals of the head. The functional significance of the detected transformations is presumably related to the place and depth of fish habitat and the way of searching for food.

Key words

Bovichtidae, Bovichtus, Cottoperca, Halaphritis, morphology, seismosensory system

Submitted December 24, 2024 · Accepted April 24, 2025 · Published June 3, 2025

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