The crista interfenestralis is an

anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

feature found in the

inner ear The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates, the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the ...

of many

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s. It is a bone ridge that divides the inner ear into two parts, the anterior and the posterior. The anterior part contains the

fenestra ovalis The oval window (or ''fenestra vestibuli'' or ''fenestra ovalis'') is a membrane-covered opening from the middle ear to the cochlea of the inner ear. Vibrations that contact the tympanic membrane travel through the three ossicles and into the in ...

and seems to be analogous to the

vestibular duct The vestibular duct or scala vestibuli is a perilymph-filled cavity inside the cochlea of the inner ear that conducts sound vibrations to the cochlear duct. It is separated from the cochlear duct by Reissner's membrane and extends from the vesti ...

, whereas the posterior part is analogous to the recess for the

tympanic duct The tympanic duct or scala tympani is one of the perilymph-filled cavities in the inner ear of humans. It is separated from the cochlear duct by the basilar membrane, and it extends from the round window to the helicotrema, where it continues as ...

References

Ear Reptile anatomy {{Vertebrate anatomy-stub