Random Question About Corydoras

[Koglin]

Curiosity: anyone know how corydoras sense food? Or can anyone tell me what their skin feels like?

Weird question I know, but I've been fishing my whole life. Particularly catfishing, all over the u.s. at this point. So I know that most u.s. catfish are part of the ictaluridae family. A lot people who catfish in the u.s. think "the stinkier the bait the better because they smell it", but I was taught that these fish (ictalurids/ictaluridae) don't smell, instead their whole body is covered in taste buds with the highest concentration of taste buds being in the whiskers. That's how a full grown flathead can follow your bait nearly 10 miles upriver, they follow a taste trail - not a smell trail. It's also why bloody baits work much better than the sprays for catfish. The spray wears off and breaks the taste trail vs. leaking a long taste trail through the current.

But it got me wondering.. is that the same for corydoras variants? I wonder about plecos too since they're an armored catfish..

I just keep finding care guide type information when looking around. =\

Any info. is appreciated, I'm just curious is all.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

No idea. Interesting question, though. I hope someone knows.

 

[Colin_T]

All fish have nostrils and they are much more effective than ours. Catfish also have feelers that can help them narrow down the source of smells.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I agree with the feelers, that was my best guess.

 

[Retired Viking]

I agree with @Colin_T , I have watch my cory and they remind me of my yellow lab dogs. They seem to sniff out food, even when it is out of site.

 

[Koglin]

Oh yes, sorry I didn't mean that they don't smell at all, just that they "hunt down/track" food with taste through their skin and barbels. Ictalurids nostrils are more efficient at detecting amino acids than almost any other sport fish in N.A., and that helps detect how far away things are for them and somewhat track/move towards it, but when they really "hunt it down" (and especially in closer range) it's all about tasting through their skin and whiskers.

It's a very well documented function with ictalurids.

So based on the responses, I bet Cory's are set up similarly to ictalurids, and also have taste buds covering their entire body and whiskers. I just couldn't really find anything specific about it.

In a confined environment, I bet their sense of taste (skin/whiskers) is relied on more than smell because it's close range - just like wild ictalurids. Smell of course is also used, just not as relied on I bet because it's in a small space so it's more close range tracking mode.

Think I'll turn their next meal into an Easter egg hunt with my long tweezers, maybe look around Google Scholar. Really just want more in-depth info. on them and how they work for curiosity reading lol. I love watching my pygmy Cory's, and often wonder why they do some of the things they do.

 

[Retired Viking]

Oh yes, sorry I didn't mean that they don't smell at all, just that they "hunt down/track" food with taste through their skin and barbels. Ictalurids nostrils are more efficient at detecting amino acids than almost any other sport fish in N.A., and that helps detect how far away things are for them and somewhat track/move towards it, but when they really "hunt it down" (and especially in closer range) it's all about tasting through their skin and whiskers.

It's a very well documented function with ictalurids.

So based on the responses, I bet Cory's are set up similarly to ictalurids, and also have taste buds covering their entire body and whiskers. I just couldn't really find anything specific about it.

In a confined environment, I bet their sense of taste (skin/whiskers) is relied on more than smell because it's close range - just like wild ictalurids. Smell of course is also used, just not as relied on I bet because it's in a small space so it's more close range tracking mode.

Think I'll turn their next meal into an Easter egg hunt with my long tweezers, maybe look around Google Scholar. Really just want more in-depth info. on them and how they work for curiosity reading lol. I love watching my pygmy Cory's, and often wonder why they do some of the things they do.

Well written argument

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I suspect that with fish, living in water as they do, the line between smell and taste is fuzzy, if it exists at all. I'm sort of spit-balling here, but please humor me for a moment while I pursue a mental rabbit trail.

We land-locked critters can't taste anything at all unless it dissolves in water first (try touching a dry sugar cube to your dry tongue), and the majority of what we "taste", some scientists estimate over 90%, is actually smell. We have only four (or five, depending on who's talking) types of taste buds that can pick up salt, sweet, bitter, sour, and something called umami, which has something to do with soy sauce, roast beef, and MSG.

Basically for us, "tastes" are dissolved in water and experienced through direct contact, whereas "smells" are compounds that float through the air, to be picked up by olfactory receptors in the nose. Like taste buds, each olfactory receptor can only pick up a couple of scents, but there are a whoooooole bunch of the little guys in there, allowing us to recognize something like 10,000 different scents. Taste and smell are lumped together as "the chemical senses," and on a neurological level they seem to pretty much work the same way.

All of that just to ask this: With fish, who experience everything through direct contact of chemical compounds dissolved in liquid, is there really any practical difference between taste and smell? We taste water and smell air, but even so, most of what we "taste" is actually smell. Fish taste water and smell water. So, drawing a sharp distinction between the sense of smell and the sense of taste is a bit of a moot point even in humans; with fish, it seems pointless because it's essentially the same thing.

**Full disclosure: I am neither an ichthyologist nor a sensory scientist; I'm a music teacher who doesn't even know what "umami" is.**

 

[Colin_T]

**Full disclosure: I am neither an ichthyologist nor a sensory scientist; I'm a music teacher who doesn't even know what "umami" is.**

umami is the woman who gave birth to you

 

[Koglin]

I suspect that with fish, living in water as they do, the line between smell and taste is fuzzy, if it exists at all. I'm sort of spit-balling here, but please humor me for a moment while I pursue a mental rabbit trail.

We land-locked critters can't taste anything at all unless it dissolves in water first (try touching a dry sugar cube to your dry tongue), and the majority of what we "taste", some scientists estimate over 90%, is actually smell. We have only four (or five, depending on who's talking) types of taste buds that can pick up salt, sweet, bitter, sour, and something called umami, which has something to do with soy sauce, roast beef, and MSG.

Basically for us, "tastes" are dissolved in water and experienced through direct contact, whereas "smells" are compounds that float through the air, to be picked up by olfactory receptors in the nose. Like taste buds, each olfactory receptor can only pick up a couple of scents, but there are a whoooooole bunch of the little guys in there, allowing us to recognize something like 10,000 different scents. Taste and smell are lumped together as "the chemical senses," and on a neurological level they seem to pretty much work the same way.

All of that just to ask this: With fish, who experience everything through direct contact of chemical compounds dissolved in liquid, is there really any practical difference between taste and smell? We taste water and smell air, but even so, most of what we "taste" is actually smell. Fish taste water and smell water. So, drawing a sharp distinction between the sense of smell and the sense of taste is a bit of a moot point even in humans; with fish, it seems pointless because it's essentially the same thing.

**Full disclosure: I am neither an ichthyologist nor a sensory scientist; I'm a music teacher who doesn't even know what "umami" is.**

That's a really interesting point, well thought out too. Taking the brain-mind interface theory of how our senses may convert sensory information into thought, I imagine it would be closer to how you describe it as basically just received and muddled information leading to action.

I've saved a couple peer reviewed articles I found which somewhat touch on the subject but haven't had a chance to delve into them yet. Thanks for the well put reply, adds another angle and new considerations I hadn't really thought of.

umami is the woman who gave birth to you

Hilarious lol.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Interesting..

Freckled Goatfish, Upeneus tragula, develop barbels as a response to food availability.[6] When starved of food for two days under laboratory conditions, U. tragula develop large barbels compared to those developed by those who were fed consistently

From wiki..

Barbel (zoology) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[mbsqw1d]

Some scientific stuff here, only the abstract seems to be available, not sure if you have to register/login to read more?

Electron microscopy of terminal buds on the barbels of the silurid fish, Corydoras paleatus - PubMed

The terminal buds of the Corydoras paleatus were observed with the electron microscope. Almost all the cells constituting the buds can be classified into two distinct cell types, supporting and receptor cells. In addition, a few cells designated as basal cells exist in the bottom of the buds and...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Koglin]

@mbsqw1d oh awesome! Fascinating too. Great resources you found, especially the cited articles in that second one, lotta interesting and relevant info. amongst them.

Thank you a lot! This is more the kind of info. Ive been looking for =D

 

[mbsqw1d]

@mbsqw1d oh awesome! Fascinating too. Great resources you found, especially the cited articles in that second one, lotta interesting and relevant info. amongst them.

Thank you a lot! This is more the kind of info. Ive been looking for =D

Did you get to read anything more than the 'abstract' on the 2nd link?