A Histological Study on the Visual Cell Layer of the Endemic Korean Species Liobagrus mediadiposalis (Pisces: Amblycipitidae) = A Histological Study on the Visual Cell Layer of the Endemic Korean Species Liobagrus mediadiposalis (Pisces: Amblycipitidae)

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

A study on the visual cell and eyeball of the endemic Korean species Liobagrus mediadiposalis was investigated by light and electron microscopes. The retina of a small and 2 mm-diameter round eye was thin, $151.0{\pm}4.0{\mu}m$ and has two visual cells, a single cone and a rod cell. The single cone cells are short and thick, $18.0{\pm}0.9{\mu}m$ in length and $5.1{\pm}0.7{\mu}m$ (n=30) in diameter, while the rod cells are longer and thinner, $54.8{\pm}2.9{\mu}m$ in length and $3.3{\pm}0.6{\mu}m$ in diameter. The cone cells are seen an irregular and random mosaic pattern, and the rod cells are also randomly situated at between cone cells. As a rare phenomenon, such structure is one of characteristics reflecting the eye of a nocturnal and bottom-dwelling freshwater fish. The ultrastructure of visual cells was observed with scanning and transmission electron microscopy, both cone and rod cells are divided into an inner segment with numerous mitochondria and an outer segment with stacks of membrane discs.