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Abstract
It has been suggested that the morphological polarity of sensory hair cells in the
otolithic organs plays important roles in directional hearing in fish. In this study,
we examined the hair cell polarization patterns in the saccule, utricle, and lagena
of a teleost fish, the sleeper goby (Dormitator latifrons). In contrast to using traditional
scanning electron microscopy, we employed a simple and rapid method that enabled us
to map the hair cell polarization patterns using immunocytochemical and confocal imaging
techniques. The hair cells in the caudal part of the saccular epithelium are oriented
dorsally and ventrally, with some variations in the caudal end. The hair cells in
the rostral part have diverse morphological polarizations. The utricular hair cells
fall into internal and external groups which have opposing polarizations. The lagenar
hair cells are found in anterior and posterior groups with approximately opposite
polarizations. The saccular and lagenar epithelia are oriented perpendicular to the
horizontal plane of the fish, while the utricular epithelium lies on the horizontal
plane. Thus, the sleeper goby's ear is morphologically capable of being a three-dimensional
sound detector.