Fish Chemoreception: Comparative Anatomy and Development

Dear Colleagues,

The comparative anatomy of non-tetrapod vertebrates is a rich field of research that yields so much information on vertebrate evolution. The paraphyletic group of fish, covering three of the seven classes of vertebrates, is found in a variety of environments from the tropical coral reefs to the icy water of poles, from periodically dry bodies of water to the challenging oceanic depths, from the isolated environments of caves to the largest rivers. Their diversity in behaviors, life strategies, and morphological adaptations reflects this wondrous variety and never cease to amaze.

Chemical senses are the most primitive form of sensing the environment, and virtually all the behavioral compartments are likely to depend in one way or another on the detection of chemical clues.

Anatomical and functional research has in recent decades shown how the chemical senses of fish rely on structures and molecules that are in many ways similar to those of other vertebrates. Indeed, the deep understanding of chemosensory systems of fish is a deep understanding of vertebrate chemoreception, with interesting potential outcomes in both evolutionary and medical sciences. This Special Issue aims to collect articles covering the development and the anatomy, from gross morphology to ultrastructure, of fish chemoreceptive systems (olfactory, gustatory, and other chemoreceptive structures), including the sensory structures and the brain regions devoted to sensory elaboration, with a special emphasis on a comparative approach.

Dr. Sara Ferrando
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fishes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• osteichthyes
• chondrichthyes
• cyclostomes
• olfactory system
• taste buds
• solitary chemosensory cells