Hydrodynamic reception

Arthropods like these northern prawn, and some mammals, detect water movement with sensory hairs such as whiskers, bristles or antennae

In animal physiology, hydrodynamic reception refers to the ability of some animals to sense water movements generated by biotic (conspecifics, predators, or prey) or abiotic sources. This form of mechanoreception is useful for orientation, hunting, predator avoidance, and schooling.[1][2] Frequent encounters with conditions of low visibility can prevent vision from being a reliable information source for navigation and sensing objects or organisms in the environment. Sensing water movements is one resolution to this problem.[3]

This sense is common in aquatic animals, the most cited example being the lateral line system, the array of hydrodynamic receptors found in fish and aquatic amphibians.[4] Arthropods (including crayfish and lobsters) and some mammals (including pinnipeds and manatees) can use sensory hairs to detect water movements. Systems that detect hydrodynamic stimuli are also used for sensing other stimuli. For example, sensory hairs are also used for the tactile sense, detecting objects and organisms up close rather than via water disturbances from afar.[5] Relative to other sensory systems, our knowledge of hydrodynamic sensing is rather limited.[6] This could be because humans do not have hydrodynamic receptors, which makes it difficult for us to understand the importance of such a system. Generating and measuring a complex hydrodynamic stimulus can also be difficult.

  1. ^ Herring, Peter. The Biology of the Deep Ocean. New York: Oxford, 2002.
  2. ^ Schulte-Pelkum, N, S Wieskotten, W Hanke, G Dehnhardt, and B Mauck. “Tracking of biogenic hydrodynamic trails in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina).” Journal of Experimental Biology 210, no. 5 (2007): 781-7. doi:10.1242/jeb.02708. PMID 17297138.
  3. ^ Dehnhardt, G, B Mauck, W Hanke, and H Bleckmann. “Hydrodynamic trail-following in harbor seals (Phoca vitulina).” Science 293, no. 5527 (2001): 102-4. doi:10.1126/science.1060514. PMID 11441183.
  4. ^ Bleckmann, H, and R Zelick. “Lateral line system of fish.” Integrative Zoology 4 (2009): 13-25. doi:10.1111/j.1749-4877.2008.00131.x.
  5. ^ Dehnhardt, G, and A. Kaminski. “Sensitivity of the mystacial vibrissae of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) for size differences of actively touched objects.” Journal of Experimental Biology 198, no. 11 (1995): 2317-23. PMID 7490570.
  6. ^ Bleckmann, Horst. "Reception of Hydrodynamic Stimuli in Aquatic and Semiaquatic Animals." In Progress in Zoology, Vol. 41, edited by W. Rathmayer, 1-115. Stuttgart, Jena, New York: Gustav Fischer, 1994.