Abstract
As an adaptation to their environment, aquatic animals have developed sophisticated hydrodynamic receptor systems for the detection of water motions. The hydrodynamic receptor system of fishes is the mechanosensory lateral line. The sensory units of the lateral line are the neuromasts that are dispersed over the body surface. Superficial neuromasts are freestanding on the surface of the skin and are sensitive to water velocity. Canal neuromasts are embedded in lateral line canals and respond to pressure gradients between canal pores. The peripheral lateral line responds strongly to sinusoidal water motions generated by a stationary vibrating sphere. In running water, superficial neuromast responses to hydrodynamic stimuli are masked, whereas trunk canal neuromast responses are hardly affected, indicating a clear form-function relationship of the peripheral lateral line. Neurons in the fish brainstem and midbrain are less sensitive to sine wave stimuli but show a variety of responses to moving object stimuli. In the brainstem, a functional subdivision can be found similar to that in the lateral line periphery. These findings show that natural stimulus conditions, for example, moving sources and background noise, are necessary to reveal the functional limitations and evolutionary adaptations of the lateral line system.
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Bleckmann, H., Mogdans, J., Dehnhardt, G. (2003). Processing of Dipole and More Complex Hydrodynamic Stimuli Under Still- and Running-Water Conditions. In: Collin, S.P., Marshall, N.J. (eds) Sensory Processing in Aquatic Environments. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-22628-6_6
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