Topographical organization of taste and tactile neurons in the facial lobe of the sea catfish, Plotosus lineatus.

An extraordinary development of the paired medullary facial taste nuclei, the facial lobes, occurs in the sea catfish, Plotosus lineatus. Each of the facial lobes is divided by fiber fascicles into 5 highly distinct lobules or subnuclei, constituting 5 longitudinal columns through the lobe. Extracellular, electrophysiological recordings of neurons within the respective subnuclei of the facial lobe indicate superimposable taste and tactile neural maps organized in a somatotopic manner.