THE ROLE OF THE GILL FILAMENT MUSCULATURE IN TELEOSTS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The gill filament musculature of several freshwater teleosts was studied using visual and oscillographic methods. Continual activity was observed in the small muscles connecting the two hemibranch rows on each gill arch in all the fish examined. In those fish where the gill filament rows are bound together by a sheet of connective tissue, there was an additional active series of muscles situated on the oral surface of each gill arch. Both series of muscles contracted once every breathing cycle whether the fish was in water or in air.It is proposed that these muscles have two important functions. Firstly, they assist in maintaining an even spacing of the gill hemibranchs at all phases of the breathing cycle, thus insuring that all the lamellae receive adequate ventilation. Secondly, they take part in a regulatory mechanism which controls the amount of water which will be presented to the respiratory surfaces of the lamellae.

This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit: