Effects of Sound on Hair Cell Receptor Systems of Fish

摘要

Previous studies on fishes have investigated the effects of sounds on only one ortwo of the otolithic endorgans of fishes. In addition, these studies included only species that are considered to have specializations that enhance their hearing capabilities. In the present study we extend our earlier work to include pulsed as well as continuous tones and an examination of all the endorgans in the ear (saccule, utricle, lagena, cristac of the semicircular canals) and of the hair cells of the other teleost mechanoreceptor, the lateral line. We demonstrated that intense sounds will have minimal damage on the structure of the fish ear, but we suggest that higher intensity sounds could do severe damage if presented for several hours.