An introduction to the study of fishes

by Albert C. L. G. Günther

Fig. 47.—Nostrils of Raia lemprieri, with nasal flaps reverted.

In the majority of Teleostei the olfactory capsules are lateral or superior on the snout, covered externally by the skin, each usually pierced by two openings, which are either close together, or more or less remote from each other; the posterior is generally open, the anterior provided with a valve or tube. In the Chromides and Labroidei ctenoidei a single opening only exists for each sac. In the Murænidæ the two openings of each side are either superior, or lateral, or labial, that is, they are continued downwards and pierce the margin of the upper lip. In many Tetrodonts nasal openings are absent, and replaced by a conical papilla, in which the olfactory nerve terminates.

It is certain that fishes possess the faculty of perceiving odours, and that various scents attract or repel them. A mangled carcase or fresh blood attracts Sharks as well as the voracious Serrasal monoids of the South American rivers. There is no reason to doubt that the seat of that perception is in the olfactory sac; and it may be reasonably conjectured that its strength depends mainly on the degree of development indicated by the number and extent of the interior folds of the pituitary membrane.

Organ of Sight.—The position, direction, and dimensions of the eyes of fishes vary greatly. In some they have an upward aspect, and are often very close together; in others they are lateral, and in a few they are even directed downwards. The Flat-fishes represent the extraordinary anomaly that both eyes are on the same side of the head, and rarely on the same level, one being generally placed more forward than the other. In certain species of marine fishes the eyes are of an extraordinary size, a peculiarity indicating that the fish either lives at a great depth, to which only a small proportion of the rays of light penetrate, or that it is of nocturnal habits. In fishes which have descended to such great depths that no rays whatever can reach them, or in freshwater fishes living in caves, or in species which grovel and live constantly in mud, the eyes are more or less aborted, sometimes quite rudimentary, and covered by the skin. In very few this organ appears to be entirely absent. In some Gobioids and Trachinoids (Periophthalmus, Boleophthalmus, Uronoscopus, etc.) the eyes, which are on the upper side of the head, can be elevated and depressed at the will of the fish. In the range of their vision and acuteness of sight, Fishes are very inferior to the higher classes of Vertebrates, yet at the same time it is evident that they perceive their prey or approaching danger from a considerable distance; and it would appear that the visual powers of a Periophthalmus, when hunting insects on mud-flats of the tropical coasts, are quite equal to that of a frog. Again, the discrimination with which fishes sometimes prefer one colour or kind of artificial fly to another affords sufficient evidence that the vision, at least of certain species is by no means devoid of clearness and precision.

The eye of Branchiostoma is of the most rudimentary condition. It is simply a minute speck coated by dark pigment, and receiving the end of a short nerve. In Myxinoids the minute rudiment of the eye is covered by the skin and muscles. This is also the case in many of the blind Teleosteous fishes; however, whilst in the former fishes the organ of sight has not attained to any degree of development, the rudimentary eye of blind Teleostei is a retrogressive formation, in which often a lens and other portions of the eye can be recognised. In fishes with a well-developed eye it is imbedded in a layer of gelatinous and adipose substance, which covers the cavity of the orbit. A lacrymal gland is absent. In the orbit of one fish only, Chorismodentex, an organ has been found which can be compared to a saccus lacrymalis. It is a round, blind, wide sac, of the size of a pea, situated below the anterior corner of the orbit, between the maxillary bone and the muscles of the cheek, communicating by a rather wide foramen with the orbital cavity. The membrane by which it is formed is continuous with that coating the orbita. In the Chondropterygians the eyeball is supported by and moves on a cartilaginous peduncle of the orbital wall. In the majority of Teleosteans, and in Acipenser, a fibrous ligament attaches the sclerotic to the wall of the orbit. The proper muscles of the eyeball exist in all fishes, and consist of the four Musculi recti and the two M. obliqui. In many Teleostei the former rise from a subcranial canal, the origin of the M. rectus externus being prolonged farthest backwards. The Recti muscles are extraordinarily long in the Hammerheaded Sharks, in which they extend from the basis cranii along the lateral prolongations of the head to the eyes, which are situated at the extremities of the hammer.

In all fishes the general integument of the head passes over the eye, and becomes transparent where it enters the orbit; sometimes it simply passes over the orbit, sometimes it forms a circular fold. The anterior and posterior portions may be especially broad and the seat of an adipose deposit (adipose eyelids), as in Scomber, Caranx, Mugil, etc. In many of these fishes the extent of these eyelids varies with the seasons; during the spawning season they are so much loaded with fat as nearly to hide the whole eye. Many Sharks possess a nictitating membrane, developed from the lower part of the palpebral fold, and moved by a proper set of muscles.

Fig. 48.

Vertical section through eye of Xiphias. (After Owen.)