Influence of hypergravity on fish inner ear otoliths: I. Developmental growth profile

Inner ear stones (otoliths) of larval cichlid fish Oreochromis mossambicus were marked with the calcium-tracer alizarin-complexone (AC) at 1g earth gravity before and after a 3, 7, 14 or 21 days stay of the animals at hypergravity conditions (hg; 3g, centrifuge). After the experiment, the otoliths' area between the two AC-labellings was measured with regard to size and asymmetry (size difference between the left and the right stones). Both utricular and saccular otoliths (lapilli and sagittae, respectively) continued growing in a linear way at hg, but growth was significantly slowed down as compared to parallely raised 1g-control specimens. In case of bilateral asymmetry between the corresponding otoliths its formation in hg-animals became reduced as compared to the 1g controls. The reduction of asymmetry was much more pronounced in the sagittae than in the lapilli. The latter result supports an earlier hypothesis, according to which especially a low sagittal asymmetry has a functional advantage. In general, the results strongly suggest that otolith growth is continuously regulated in dependence of the environmental gravity vector. (C) 2002 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.