In fish, the sense of taste is extraordinarily highly developed and essentially more sensitive than that of mammals. This is due to chemoreception, which offers suf- ficient possibilities for animals living in water to orient and maintain themselves suc- cessfully in individual and social life. Therefore, at least within the vertebrates the chemical senses have developed to their highest standard in water. Chemoreception is evidently present in land-dwelling mammals and is still dependent on moist surfaces, but the optical sense, in its highest stage of development, takes priority. In...

This book deals with chemosensory systems of fishes and covers the well known olfactory and the gustatory senses as well as the less popular solitary chemosensory cells. Chemosenses play an essential role in the life of a fish. They help fish in their search for food, to consume it and digest it. They also help fish to find their conspecifics and to avoid enemies or predators. Fish live in varied and often extreme ecological conditions frequently inhabiting niches such as caves or at great depths in the oceans. The chemosensory organs of such well adapted fish are highly specialized and...