Loaches Online Forum

Hi,

A friend asked me about some "hole like" pores on some of my loach photos. Most of those pores, according to him, were in the head. I check some of my photos but was not able to confirm, but he sent me some photos showing them:




I came back here and found those pores on some Marge photos as well:






Can anybody help me solve this puzzle?

Marcos.

Although I cannot claim to have any answers to this mystery, those pores remind me of the sensory pores on Crocodilians.

I watched a TV show a while back, and "they" were doing a study on the purpose of those pores.

They are located on the snout of the animal, and around the head. They used a baby Alligator as a testing subject, and applied a plastic paste to its snout, covering the pores. When they were covered, he could not find a fish they dropped in the water.

Strangely, I have noticed some of these spots on my Loaches as well, even Kuhlis. My Weather Loaches also have bumps on their snouts, though they look a bit different from the ones in your friend's pictures.

soul-hugger

I've always believed them to be sensory pores. Y. sidthimunki display them too.

Very interesting ,with brilliant close up pics too

piggy4 wrote:Very interesting ,with brilliant close up pics too

That first picture is brilliant; "hey, we got room for one more in here!"

I posed the question via the PFK forum and ichthyologist Heok Hee stated that they are the pores of the cephalic laterosensory system

The pores represent a series of sensory canals present in many Cyprinid fishes. My impression is that although they have names, they are not well understood. HH might argue this point. Suffice to say that these parts of Cyprinid fishes are full of blood vessels and highly sensitive. If the barbels act as a tactile sensory organ, these canals and pores appear to complement loaches' senses in some other way - perhaps in detecting chemical or pheromonal changes, or maybe just like cat whiskers, helping them to deal with small spaces and navigating in shoals.

If the anatomy is well known, its purpose does not seem to be.

Most of the info online appears to only be available by subscription to ichthyological journals:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1442739

Thanks guys!

I was wondering something on that way.

Fish sense their environment in ways we can only imagine the scope of.

If you're interested in learning more about this stuff in a readily understandable, non-scientific jargon kind of way, I can very highly recommend the book Fish Behaviour in the Aquarium & in the Wild by Stephan Reebs. This was originally published in 2001 by Comstock/Cornell Paperbacks ISBN- N-0-8014-8772-2

The book covers lots of stuff on sensory systems and other chapters give one a whole new understanding of why our fish exhibit certain behaviours.

http://www.gettextbooks.com/search/?isb ... 014-8772-2

Martin.

Such an interesting topic & great pics too! Our fish are fascinating in many ways

Thanks Martin. Seams to be a nice read.

Very interesting topic, too bad I dont't have the minutes, at the very moment, to review all the links above, but will asap.
Still, trying to give some input too, even if not read by myself yet.

I am also comparing the various patterns of the pores in the head, which are not the same on various botine loaches. Additional the shape and direction of the nares are finding my attention (what else?! )) )

>>>

lateral line
A sensory organ of fishes which consists of a canal running along the side of the body and communicating via sensory pores through scales to the exterior; functions in perceiving low frequency vibrations and pressure differences in general.

perhaps looking on sites like those, finds something

http://www.earthlife.net/fish/latline.html

this one has an English name, but appears German, they mean that some pores of the "lateral line" also appears on the head of fish. Nice diagramm though to look at like picture 3 ("Abb.3")

http://www.royal-flyfishing.com/cms/fro ... ?idcat=164

on cichlids, I saw a diagramm that pointed out about 8 different chanels on the head, which are connected to the channel of the lateral line.

THAT HERE SEEMS TO BE IT:

The laboratory fish

shoot, too much time spent again but found another great link, check this one out, shows very much detail, scroll down to see more excellent pictures.

Fish bioacoustics

Good adding to the research, Wolfram!

Thanks!

Hi Marcos,

Those 'sensory pores' in the pics are neuromasts that are linked to the lateral line system of the fish.

Hope this helps,


Emma

Thanks Emma.