The fine structure of ampullary and tuberous electroreceptors in the South American blind catfish Pseudocetopsis spec.

Two types of electroreceptors, the ampullary and the tuberous electroreceptor (silurid knollenorgan) in the epidermis of the catfish, Pseudocetopsis spec., were investigated with semithin and ultrathin serial sections. The ampullary organ contains one or two sensory cells which are embedded in supporting cells at the base of open epithelial canals. They bear some slender microvilli on their apical surface and form several synaptic bars. The afferent myelinated nerve fiber arborizes in the connective tissue papilla and looses its myelin sheath about 30 micron below the supporting cell layer. A second thin myelinated axon occur up to the supporting cell layer. The tuberous electroreceptor organ contains one large receptor cell. Most of the cell body is exposed to the lumen of a specialized proximal canal segment and is closely covered with microvilli. A single myelinated axon looses its myelin sheath within the supporting cell layer about 1 micron before terminating as a flat calyx at the base of the sensory cell. A functional significance of the two types of receptors will be discussed.