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The Fish Lateral Line: How to Detect Hydrodynamic Stimuli

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Sensors and Sensing in Biology and Engineering

Abstract

The lateral line is a hydrodynamic receptor system that enables fishes to detect minute water motions generated by conspecifics, predators or prey. The sensory units of the lateral line are the neuromasts which are dispersed over large portions of the body surface. Whereas superficial neuromasts are freestanding on the surface of the skin and sensitive to water velocity, canal neuromasts are embedded in lateral line canals and sensitive to pressure gradients between canal pores. Superficial and canal neuromasts are innervated by distinct populations of nerve fibers. When goldfish are exposed to a constant back ground water flow, responses of fibers innervating superficial neuromasts to superimposed hydrodynamic stimuli are masked due to the continuous stimulation of the neuromasts by the running water. In contrast, responses of fibers innervating trunk canal neuromasts are hardly affected by background water flow due to the filter properties of lateral line canals. These findings are evidence for a strong form-function relationship in the sensory periphery of the fish lateral line system. A functional subdivision similar to that in the periphery can be found in the brainstem suggesting that to a large degree information from superficial and canal neuromasts, respectively, is processed separately at least at the first stage of central nervous integration.

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Authors
  1. Joachim Mogdans
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  2. Jacob Engelmann
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  3. Wolf Hanke
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  4. Sophia Kröther
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biocenter, Institute of Zoology — Neurobiology, University of Vienna, Austria

    Friedrich G. Barth

  2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Joseph A. C. Humphrey

  3. Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Timothy W. Secomb

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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Wien

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Mogdans, J., Engelmann, J., Hanke, W., Kröther, S. (2003). The Fish Lateral Line: How to Detect Hydrodynamic Stimuli. In: Barth, F.G., Humphrey, J.A.C., Secomb, T.W. (eds) Sensors and Sensing in Biology and Engineering. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-6025-1_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-6025-1_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-7091-7287-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-7091-6025-1

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