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The Mechanosensory Lateral Line pp 387–408Cite as

Central Nervous Physiology of the Lateral Line, with Special Reference to Cartilaginous Fishes

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Abstract

Fishes and aquatic amphibians use the mechanoreceptive lateral line to detect weak water currents (Dijkgraaf 1963; Bleckmann 1986; Kalmijn 1988) and water surface waves (Schwartz 1971; Bleckmann 1988). Electrophysiological studies have shown that the pattern of impulses carried by primary lateral line afferents encodes information about the nature of the peripheral stimulus with respect to duration, amplitude, frequency, and phase (see Münz Chapter 14). If the activity of several neuromasts, which may differ with respect to the alignment of their most sensitive axis, is integrated over time and space, the additional information of stimulus direction and, perhaps, stimulus distance may be obtained. Thus the peripheral lateral line provides the brain with all cues necessary to evaluate a complex wave stimulus with respect to stimulus origin, stimulus duration, and stimulus type.

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Authors
  1. Horst Bleckmann
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  2. Theodore H. Bullock
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Parmly Hearing Institute, Loyola University of Chicago, 60626, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Sheryl Coombs

  2. Faculty of Biology Department of Neurophysiology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany

    Peter Görner

  3. Faculty of Biology Department of Neurophysiology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany

    Heinrich Münz

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Bleckmann, H., Bullock, T.H. (1989). Central Nervous Physiology of the Lateral Line, with Special Reference to Cartilaginous Fishes. In: Coombs, S., Görner, P., Münz, H. (eds) The Mechanosensory Lateral Line. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3560-6_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3560-6_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8157-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-3560-6

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