A Small Percentage Of People Are Born With Tiny Holes In Their Ears

There are a lot of strange leftover parts of our body that no longer serve a functional purpose in modern life. By modern, I mean the last ten thousand years or so. Evolution is a long drawn out process and sometimes stuff just…sticks around.

There are things that are well-known, like vestigial tails or double-jointed thumbs, but right now people are discussing the hot new thing in congenital malformations: the preauricular sinuses.

I have a hole near my ear, called a preauricular sinus, thought to be an evolutionary remnant of a fish gill. It happens in 4-10% of all humans. pic.twitter.com/K9eQz52X5o

— Mildly Interesting (@interest_mild) February 2, 2018

i have this hole/pocket on my ear called a preauricular sinus that’s apparently believed to be an evolutionary leftover of gills and it’s supposed to be a sign of good luck in some cultures and i thought that was pretty cool pic.twitter.com/jqRw9vd6i6

— ju (@dongvvoo) June 18, 2020

What in the heck are they? They’re sometimes called a preauricular pit, preauricular tract, or preauricular cyst, and they appear in the soft tissue at the front and top part of the ear.

ok weird but does any of you have these kinda holes above your ear/ears?? i’ve had mine above both of my ears since i was born but i’ve never rly thought about it much until now. apparently it’s called “preauricular sinus” and only about 0,09-0,1% in europe has this pic.twitter.com/5Tg7DgTw8V

— BLM (@angelicsmoon) July 29, 2019

The little holes were first officially noted in 1864 in a study by a scientist Van Heusinger.

I have something called preauricular sinus.
I practically have a hole in my head
Only 1 out of 100 people have it. It is supposedly an evolutionary remnant of fish gills.

Does anyone of you has it as well?
I’m so curious. So far I’ve only met one person in my life who has it. pic.twitter.com/3390umxtHM

— Charly Z. (@charly_zandau) February 15, 2019

They can appear on both sides, or just one, and they’re not just shallow pits. They connect to the sinus tract, which is not typical in humans. The path under the skin from the preauricular pit to the sinuses can be short or long, but the only external visible hint is that little pockmark in the cartilage.

With that connection to the sinuses, there is the potential for infection. Often the pits run in families, but sometimes they can be spontaneous. They occur most frequently in East Asian populations, in about ten percent of people. About four percent of people descended from Africa will have them and 0.5 percent of European people.

i just found out that this tiny hole at the upper part of my ear is called preauricular sinus. i was born with a pre-made piercing lol pic.twitter.com/zsLledPhvj

— El (@schkeleton) June 25, 2017

Scientist Neil Shubin works in evolutionary biology and believes the holes are related to fish gills.

He thinks all inner ears are connected to the evolutionary path from fish gills. As mammals, we assume we’re too far from the primordial ooze to show any hint of our scaled ancestors, but the story of that past is still in our bodies, even many millennia later.

Today I Learned That Some People Are Born With Tiny Holes In Their Ears (5 Pics)

There are things that are well-known, like vestigial tails or double-jointed thumbs, but right now people are discussing the hot new thing in congenital malformations: the preauricular sinuses.

What in the heck are they? They’re sometimes called a preauricular pit, preauricular tract, or preauricular cyst, and they appear in the soft tissue at the front and top part of the ear.

The little holes were first officially noted in 1864 in a study by a scientist Van Heusinger.

Scientist Neil Shubin works in evolutionary biology and believes the holes are related to fish gills.

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Aimeé Lutkin