Source location encoding in the fish lateral line canal

B Curcic-Blake, SM van Netten*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

90 Citations (Scopus)
358 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The position of a hydrodynamic dipole source, as encoded in a linear array of mechano-detecting neuromasts in the fish lateral line canal, was electrophysiologically investigated. Measured excitation patterns along the lateral line were compared to theoretical predictions and were found to be in good agreement. The results demonstrate that information on the position of a vibrating source from a fish is linearly coded in the spatial characteristics of the excitation pattern of pressure gradients distributed along the lateral line canal. Several algorithms are discussed that could potentially be used by a fish to decode lateral line excitation patterns, in order to localise a source and its axis of vibration. Specifically, a wavelet transform of a 1-D excitation pattern is shown to reconstruct a 2-D image of dipole sources located within a distance comparable to the body length of a fish and with a close range spatial accuracy twice the inter-neuromast distance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1548-1559
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Experimental Biology
Volume209
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15-Apr-2006

Keywords

  • mechanodetector
  • hair cell
  • neuromast
  • linear array
  • hydrodynamics
  • dipole
  • pressure gradient
  • wavelet transform
  • decoding algorithm
  • Gymnocephalus cernuus
  • DIPOLE SOURCE LOCALIZATION
  • MOTTLED SCULPIN
  • COTTUS-BAIRDI
  • EXCITATION PATTERNS
  • HAIR-CELLS
  • SYSTEM
  • ORGAN
  • SENSITIVITY
  • RECEPTORS
  • STIMULI

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Source location encoding in the fish lateral line canal'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this