• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.171-176
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• 2023

The olfactory organ of Carassius auratus and C. cuvieri was compared morphologically and morphometrically using stereomicroscopy and statistical program (SPSS version 18.0). The external morphology of the olfactory organ consists of the open semicircular anterior and posterior nostril, and nasal flap. The internal structure showed the oval rosette consisting of several lamellae arranged radiately. In statistical analysis of standard length (SL), olfactory lamellar number (LN), and SL/LN ratio between two species using independent two sample t-test and Pearson's correlation and coefficient, C. cuvieri is the longer SL than that of C. auratus and C. auratus LN (14~20) is lager than that of C. cuvieri (14~16) (P<0.001) and C. auratus LN/SL ratio (12.7±0.7%) is larger than that of C. cuvieri (8.2±0.6%). These results suggest that i) open semicircular nostrils is functional morphology to offset the boundary layer and ii) the lager LN of smaller C. auratus may be a morphological adaptation to reflect its higher olfactory dependence than C. cuvieri and iii) such interspecific difference in LN and LN/SL ratio could be applied as a new taxonomic trait for identification.