Jacqueline F Webb

University of Rhode Island | URI · Department of Biological Sciences

The pelagic larvae of coral reef fishes can detect and discriminate among different types of sounds suggesting that they may be able to localize acoustic cues and thus identify suitable settlement sites on reefs. It has been suggested that a description of ear development may provide clues about the importance of sound in larval behavior. Here we p...

The anatomy, neurophysiology, and behavioral roles of the mechanosensory lateral line system of cichlid fishes are reviewed. The lateral line system of cichlids shares fundamental anatomical features characteristic of all bony fishes and is composed of cranial lateral line canals, a trunk canal (or canals) containing canal neuromasts, and superfici...

The dispersal of marine larvae determines the level of connectivity among populations, influences population dynamics, and affects evolutionary processes. Patterns of dispersal are influenced by both ocean currents and larval behavior, yet the role of behavior remains poorly understood. Here we report the first integrated study of the ontogeny of m...

Synopsis The mechanosensory lateral line system is composed of a distributed array of small epithelial receptor organs called neuromasts, which function as flow sensors. This chapter reviews the known variation in the morphology of neuromasts and the lateral line canals on the head and trunk, the basic pattern of the neuromast innervation by the la...

An ontogenetic analysis of the olfactory organ and the number and distribution of internal taste buds was carried out in two neon gobies (Elacatinus lori and Elacatinus colini) with the goal of revealing morphological trends that might inform an understanding of the roles of olfaction and taste in larval orientation behaviour. The pattern of develo...

Fishes inhabiting the deep sea are notable for the production of bioluminescence and specializations of their visual systems. However, they are also equipped with non-visual sensory systems that probably mediate critical behaviours as they do in other fishes, but they are not well-studied. The mechanosensory lateral line system of fishes in the ord...

Significance Biologists have long been captivated by novel traits because they provide insights into both the origin of and constraints on morphological variation. The iconic adaptive radiations of cichlid fishes have led to incredible diversity of form, including some species with an exaggerated snout. This novelty is mechanically integrated with...

The lateral line scales are important features of bony fishes, but the three-dimensional configuration of the scales and the lateral line canal segments contained within them have been illustrated inaccurately in the literature. The lateral line scales of ten percomorph species (in Embiotocidae, Pomacentridae, and Pleuronectiformes Bothidae, Pleuro...

The relatively simple structural organization of the cranial lateral line system of bony fishes provides a valuable context in which to explore the ways in which variation in post-embryonic development results in functionally distinct phenotypes, thus providing a link between development, evolution, and behavior. Vital fluorescent staining, histolo...

The mechanosensory lateral line system of fishes detects water motions within a few body lengths of the source. Several types of artificial stimuli have been used to probe lateral line function in the laboratory, but few studies have investigated the role of flow sensing in benthic feeding teleosts. In this study, we used artificial flows emerging...

Coral reef fishes live in noisy environments that may challenge their capacity for acoustic communication. Butterflyfishes (Family Chaetodontidae) are prominent and ecologically diverse members of coral reef communities worldwide. The discovery of a novel association of anterior swim bladder horns with the lateral line canal system in the genus Cha...

Two sand-dwelling cichlids from Lake Malawi (Aulonocara stuartgranti, Tramitichromis sp.) that feed on benthic invertebrates, but have different lateral line phenotypes, use lateral line and/or visual cues to detect prey under light versus dark conditions. The current study examined how ecologically relevant variation in light intensity [0-800 lux...

This chapter considers the morphological diversity of lateral line canals and neuromast receptor organs among fishes and how the pattern and timing of lateral line development can inform an understanding of the ontogeny of flow sensing. The morphology (and presumably the function) of the lateral line system changes considerably as a fish develops....

Background The canals of the mechanosensory lateral line system are components of the dermatocranium, and demonstrate phenotypic variation in bony fishes. Widened lateral line canals evolved convergently in a limited number of families of teleost fishes and it had been hypothesized that they evolved from narrow canals via heterochrony and explore m...

Cover illustration. The canals of the mechanosensory lateral line system of bony fishes vary in morphology among species, but are contained within a conserved subset of dermatocranial bones. In this issue of the Journal of Morphology, Webb et al. (pp. 678-692 10.1002/jmor.20247) investigate the role of heterochrony in the evolution of widened crani...

Morphological, physiological, behavioral, and developmental studies of the mechanosensory lateral line system are used to define sources of morphological and functional variation in the system among fishes (and briefly in amphibians), review patterns and mechanisms of embryonic and postembryonic development, discuss how interspecific variation in m...

The adaptive radiations of African cichlids resulted in a diversity of feeding morphologies and strategies, but the role of sensory biology in prey detection and feeding ecology remains largely unexplored. Two endemic Lake Malawi cichlid genera, Tramitichromis and Aulonocara, feed on benthic invertebrates, but differ in lateral line morphology (nar...

The oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau, has been an important model organism for biomedical studies on muscle and sensory physiology. However, the function of large, fleshy multilobed protuberances called cirri that project from the head and jaw of the fish remains unknown. Additionally, the role of more simplified protuberances termed papillae that proj...

The ontogeny of the ear, swim bladder and laterophysic connection was investigated in the spotfin butterflyfish, Chaetodon ocellatus in order to determine how the development of the laterophysic connection (a Chaetodon synapomorphy) is correlated with ontogenetic changes in the hearing capabilities in these abundant and ecologically important coral...

The cranial lateral line canal system of teleost fishes is morphologically diverse and is characterized by four patterns. One of these, widened lateral line canals, has evolved convergently in a wide range of teleosts, including the Lake Malawi peacock cichlids (Aulonocara), and has been attributed to its role in prey detection. The ability to stud...

The mechanosensory lateral line system is composed of a spatial array of water flow detector organs (neuromasts) that are composed of directionally sensitive hair cells (like those in the inner ear). In the chondrichthyes and osteichthyes, it is well developed, with superficial neuromasts on the skin and canal neuromasts in the lateral line canals...

Analysis of the morphology of all three otolithic organs (sacculus, lagena and utriculus), including macula shape, hair cell morphology, density, orientation pattern, otolith morphology and the spatial relationships of the swimbladder and ear, reveals that butterflyfishes in the genera Chaetodon (which has anterior swimbladder horns) and Forcipiger...

The field of fish bioacoustics was essentially inaugurated in the 1960s with two meetings and their subsequent published proceedings, which were organized and edited by Professor William N. Tavolga. These two volumes, Marine BioAcoustics (Tavolga 1964) and Marine Bio-Acoustics II (Tavolga 1967), define the scope and content of the field of marine b...

The study of how fish make and respond to sound has important implications for communication, physiology, behavior, and commercial techniques. Fish Bioacoustics, a new definitive volume on fish auditory systems, will interest investigators in both basic research of fish bioacoustics as well as investigators in applied aspects of fisheries and resou...

This article introduces a special issue on zebrafish biology that attempts to integrate developmental genetics with comparative studies of other fish species. For zebrafish researchers, comparative work offers a better understanding of the evolutionary history of their model system. Comparative biologists can gain many insights from the development...

Butterflyfishes (genus Chaetodon) have a swim bladder lateral line connection (laterophysic connection, LC), hypothesized to convert sound‐induced oscillations of the swim bladder into fluid flow in the lateral line system and/or ear. Evaluation of LC function is dependent upon an understanding of swim bladder acoustics, which is a function of swim...

The laterophysic connection (LC) is an association between bilaterally paired, anterior swim bladder extensions (horns) and medial openings in the supracleithral lateral line canals that diagnoses butterflyfishes in the genus Chaetodon. It has been hypothesized that the LC makes the lateral line system sensitive to sound pressure stimuli that are t...

The Symposium “Zebrafish in Comparative Context” was organized to bring together two largely separate but highly complementary research traditions in order to make developmental and genetic information about a model species (Danio rerio, the zebrafish) more accessible to the comparative biology community. The meeting focused on the relationship of...

Tooth shape is a hallmark of repeated evolutionary radiations among cichlid fishes from East Africa. Cusp shape and number vary both within populations and among closely related species with different feeding behaviors and ecologies. Here, we use histology and scanning electron microscopy to chart the developmental trajectory of tooth shape differe...

The development of the cranial lateral line canals and neuromast organs are described in postembryonic zebrafish (0-80 days postfertilization). Cranial canal development commences several weeks after hatch, is initiated in the vicinity of individual neuromasts, and occurs in four discrete stages that are described histologically. Neuromasts remain...

The higher-level relationships of butterflyfishes were examined using 37 morphological characters. This analysis combines characters derived from a histological study describing variation in the morphology of the laterophysic connection (an association between the swim bladder and the lateral-line canals) with previously described morphological cha...

The development of two of the cranial lateral line canals is described in the cichlid, Archocentrus nigrofasciatus. Four stages of canal morphogenesis are defined based on histological analysis of the supraorbital and mandibular canals. "Canal enclosure" and "canal ossification" are defined as two discrete stages in lateral line canal development,...

This article provides an overview to articles on fish bioacoustics – the study of hearing, sound production, communication, and the lateral line of fishes. Since bioacoustics includes the ear, this section also includes articles on the anatomy of the ear as well as the other important role of the ear beyond hearing, the vestibular sense.

The laterophysic connection is a novel specialization in chaetodontid butterflyfish, in which paired diverticula of the swim-bladder ('horns') extend anteriorly and approach or directly contact a medial fossa in the lateral line canal contained within the supracleithrum. This study examined the morphology of the laterophysic connection in eight eco...

This chapter focuses on the development and evolution of fish larvae. The development of fishes from fertilization to sexual maturity is a continuum that is punctuated by developmental events and transitions, which may be either gradual and unremarkable or abrupt and quite dramatic. Freshwater teleost fishes are generally characterized by unspecial...

An examination of the ontogeny of the lateral line trunk canal and the diversity of adult trunk canal patterns among cichlids indicates that bidirectional canal formation is a general ontogenetic pattern in the Cichlidae with the exception of Cichla and those few species with a complete trunk canal pattern. In addition to the tubed scales which mak...

The morphology and development of the multiple lateral line canals (canals 1-5 in dorsal to ventral sequence) on the trunk of two representative hexagrammids, Hexagrammos decagrammus and H. stelleri, were studied using histological and cleared and stained material. The morphology of the lateral line scales of which the lateral line canals are compo...

The morphology and development of the multiple lateral line canals (canals 1-5 in dorsal to ventral sequence) on the trunk of two representative hexagrammids, Hexagrammos decagrammus and H. stelleri, were studied using histological and cleared and stained material. The morphology of the lateral line scales of which the lateral line canals are compo...

The morphology of the pit organs and canal neuromasts of the actinopterygian Polypterus and the lungfishes Lepidosiren, Neoceratodus and Protopterus are described using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Pit organs resemble canal neuromasts in their hair cell polarization, but they differ in size, s...

Neurogenic placodes are focal ectodermal thickenings that give rise to the sensory neurons, and in some cases, the receptor cells of vertebrate sensory systems. There are no markers for the identification of undifferentiated placodal epithelia, but derivatives of the nasal placode, for example, are characterized by unique production of GnRH and olf...

The morphology of the sensory and accessory nasal sacs in the cynoglossid Symphurus are described and compared to that in representatives of other flatfish genera. The flounders examined typically have one or two pairs of symmetric or asymmetric accessory nasal sacs with the exception of the rhombosoleids which have reduced accessory nasal sacs. A...

Scanning electron microscopy reveals the presence of ciliated epidermal cells that form halos around canal pores and pit lines of the mechanoreceptive lateral line system in two actinopterygian fish, Polypterus and Acipenser. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the cilia exhibit a typical 9 + 2 microtubule configuration and are not directio...

Hypotheses of functional adaptation and morphological constraints as determinants of lateral line morphology were tested by examining lateral line trunk canal patterns in adult representatives of 44 labrid, scarid and odacid genera. Trunk canal pattern varied at the generic level and was shown to be correlated with variations in body shape and scal...

A study of neuromast ontogeny and lateral line canal formation in Oreochromis aureus and Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum reveals the existence of two classes of neuromasts: those that arise just before hatching (presumptive canal neuromasts, dorsal superficial neuromasts, gap neuromasts, and caudal fin neuromasts) and pairs of neuromasts that arise on ea...

Evolution has been described as the result of two independent and sequential processes: the origin of variation and natural selection. The phenotypic variation upon which natural selection acts is, in turn, a result of processes that generate as well as those that limit variation (Alberch 1980, 1982b). The processes that generate variation (mutatio...

The morphology and development of the mechanoreceptive lateral-line system in teleost fishes is reviewed, and the systematic distribution of defined types of lateral-line systems is summarized. The importance of an understanding of ontogeny is stressed and the roles of phylogenetic and developmental constraints in the evolution of the lateral-line...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Boston University, 1988.