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Lateral Line Research: the Importance of Using Natural Stimuli in Studies of Sensory Systems

  • Conference paper
Ecology of Sensing

Abstract

The mechanosensory lateral line is a hydrodynamic receptor system which allows fishes and some aquatic amphibians to detect minute water motions generated by conspecifics, predators, or prey. The sensory units of the lateral line, the neuromasts, can occur free-standing on the surface of the skin or embedded in lateral line canals. The morphological design of the peripheral lateral line varies across species and has long been thought to represent an adaptation to the hydrodynamic conditions that prevail in the habitat of a given species. This chapter argues that in order to fully comprehend lateral line information processing it is imperative to take into account the ecology of fishes, meaning that natural stimulus and noise conditions have to be considered. In all previous studies on lateral line function sinusoidal water motions were applied to a stationary fish in a low-noise environment, a highly unnatural situation. Thus, these studies have not revealed specialized form-function relationships. However, data from our laboratory indicate that morphological and physiological spezializations of the lateral line system can be correlated when experiments are performed in which the natural situation of fishes is considered, for instance when the lateral line is tested with hydrodynamic stimuli applied under different background noise conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Zoologie, Universität Bonn, Poppelsdorfer Schloß, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Horst Bleckmann, Joachim Mogdans & Guido Dehnhardt

Authors
  1. Horst Bleckmann
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  2. Joachim Mogdans
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  3. Guido Dehnhardt
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biocenter, Institute for Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Friedrich G. Barth  & Axel Schmid  & 

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Bleckmann, H., Mogdans, J., Dehnhardt, G. (2001). Lateral Line Research: the Importance of Using Natural Stimuli in Studies of Sensory Systems. In: Barth, F.G., Schmid, A. (eds) Ecology of Sensing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-22644-5_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-22644-5_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-08619-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-22644-5

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