A Systematic Survey of the Occurrence of the Hypothalamic Saccus Vasculosus in Teleost Fish

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Abstract
The saccus vasculosus (SV) was examined histologically in more than 200 species of teleosts. The Atherinomorpha (Cyprinodontiformes and Atheriniformes) completely lack the SV. Many primary freshwater teleosts (Osteoglossiformes, Cypriniformes, Characiformes, Siluriformes, Gymnotiformes, and Synbranchiformes) possess none or a reduced SV. Some secondary freshwater teleosts also possess a reduced SV, but other secondary freshwater teleosts have a well‐developed SV. Some marine teleosts swimming in the surface water, for example, the Clupeiformes and Scombridae, possess a somewhat reduced SV. Bathypelagic teleosts also possess a rather reduced SV. On the other hand, most marine teleosts, benthic or nektonic in the subsurface water, have a well‐developed SV. The examples are the Anguilliformes, Scorpaeniformes, Perciformes, Pleuronectiformes, and Tetraodontiformes. Since all non‐teleostean actinopterygians possess a well‐deveoped SV, it is assumed that the earliest teleosts also possessed a SV. In the course of adaptive radiation, some teleost groups certainly have reduced or lost the SV while others developed it to various degrees. Reduction or development of the SV might be influenced more easily by environments in certain groups and might be constrained more strongly by phylogenetic lineages in other groups.