Fig. 1

External phenotypes of ear morphology mutants. Panels (A-D) display lateral views of whole larvae at 72 hpf. A wild-type larva (A) is compared to mutant animals at the same stage (B-D). Note that the ear abnormalities of hako mimi^jj59 (B), mikre ucho^jj108 (C), and ale ucho^jj410 (D) mutants appear before other defects, indicating that they do not arise as a secondary consequence of a gross degeneration in the entire embryo. (E-N′) Lateral views of ear morphology in mutant animals, compared to their wild-type siblings. One of the most severe phenotypes is displayed by mikre ucho^jj108 mutants. Pictured at 144 hpf, the mko^jj108 otic vesicle is severely reduced in size and malformed (E′, compare to E). mikre ucho mutant animals form two small otoliths that appear to be fused and their ears gradually decrease in size during larval development, so that they are smaller at 72 hpf (N′) compared to 58 hpf (I′). At 120 hpf, the ale ucho^jj410 mutant ear (F′) appears less differentiated compared to that of a wild-type sibling (F). Shown at 144 hpf, hako mimi^jj59 mutant ears display a shortened anterior-posterior axis (G′ compare to G). At 72 hpf, the smu^jj392 mutant ear is reduced in size in comparison to the wild type (H′ compare to H). pata nopo^jj386 (J′) mutant ears, pictured at 144 hpf, appear slightly smaller and more symmetric when compared to wild-type siblings (J). The gapa^jj433 mutant ear appears flat at 144 hpf (K′). Pictured at 144 hpf, the frostbite²⁹¹ mutant ear is smaller and abnormally pointed on the dorsal side (L′ compare to L). The tone deaf^jj301 ear is smaller and features a single otolith, at 152 hpf (M′, compare to M). ac, anterior crista; lc, lateral crista; pc, posterior crista; AM, anterior macula; PM, posterior macula. In all panels, anterior is to the left and dorsal is up. Larvae were photographed using DIC optics. See Table 1 for a further description of phenotypes. Scale bar in (A) applies to panels (A-D), and equals 200 μm. Scale bar in (E) applies to the remaining panels, and equals 50 μm.