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http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/09/2158495.htm

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

Apparently there's not much to do in Stuttgart. Man, the thing I would try if I had the resources these guys do.

Hey now spuddy boy no making fun of Stuttgart!

I had fun there.


What they don't address in the article is why they are doing it .

^_^

I'm curious why they chose cichlids rather than zebrafish, the standard scientific model fish these days. It's not like zebrafish don't have otoliths. And considering they're baby cichlids it doesn't seem size is the issue here. Although perhaps cichlids have exceptionally large otoliths compared to their body size...

I expect they plan to try to use the fish as a model and extrapolate to human motion sickness. If some fish don't get motion sick, they can see why and see if this has applications in motion sickenss medications, for example.

Rather interesting.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

If they were worried about otolith size/complexity, they should send up some member of the family Scianidae. One of my profs is a neurobiologist specializing in the sensory capabilities of fish. He gave the most fascinating lecture about how different otolith structures can allow a fish to hear at either really high or really low frequency, what volume threshold they have, and things of that nature. I remember him mentioning how some fish had a compartmentalized swim bladder that acted almost like a sound directional modifier, focusing the sound waves onto the otoliths. In any event, I remember he went on and on about scianids and how they were some of the best fish hearers in the world. God, I wish I could find the notes I took. I could give a lot more detailed explanation.

Well of course sciaenids are good at hearing, they do communicate pretty heavily with sound. They aren't called drums for nothing! In terms of hearing, though, more focus seems to be put on developments other than the otoliths, at least my textbook doesn't even consider different otoliths for better hearing. Some fish, such as herring and squirrelfish, have extensions of the swim bladder to their inner ear. Mormyrids apparently have a gas bubble in the head itself. Of course, all the fish of Otophysi have the Weberian apparatus, which is a set of bones in their vertebrate coupling their swim bladder to their ears; Otophysi is a grouping that contains the Gonorynchiformes, Cypriniformes, Characiformes, Siluriformes, and Gymnotiformes. My textbook claims that otophysans have the most sensitive hearing, though, lol.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I would place my bet on relative intelligence as the main reason for utilizing cichlids (not to mention issues of survivability).

Cyprinids (specifically zebrafish)are really only used in biomedical experimentation due to issues regarding embryonic development, and are not really the model organism as is often toted (or thusly extrapolated) by many unless you're planning some sort of genetically consequential experiment. It just another one of those buzzwords that become thrown around all too often when dealing with medicine. When I'm doing lab work, though, they are infinitely more interesting to watch than, say, mice though.

Relative intelligence? That's something that's rather independent of sense of balance. But it is a good point that their application is primarily genetic, thus why their short length of time to reach sexual maturity and breed is valuable.

Admittedly when I made that comment I had just read another paper about zebrafish being used yet again in a study.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Assuming adaptation as a result of basic pattern recognition, I would still hedge my bets on intelligence.

I should say the adaptation in question.