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The Mechanosensory Lateral Line pp 501–526Cite as

The Lateral Line System of Surface-Feeding Fish: Anatomy, Physiology, and Behavior

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Abstract

Fishes live in almost every type of aquatic habitat. Not surprisingly, many fishes show striking morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations. Some species, belonging to the families Cyprinodontidae, Hemirhamphidae, Gasteropelecidae, and Pantodonitidae, are specialized in foraging at the water surface. Schwartz (1965, 1971) has shown that surface-feeding fish detect and localize part of their prey, terrestrial insects fallen into the water, by means of capillary surface waves elicited by the prey’s struggling. The receptive structures involved in prey detection are lateral line organs located on the fish’s head and back (Schwartz 1970). Behavioral studies indicate that surface-feeding fish distinguish between different wave types. In addition, these fish determine the direction and the distance to a wave source under open loop conditions-i.e., even if only a single, short-lasting wave train is presented. In this chapter we review the literature on surface-feeding fish. In addition, we include recent unpublished anatomical, electrophysiological, and behavioral results. For more general reviews on water surface wave reception, the reader is referred to Bleckmann (1985a, 1988) and Wilcox (1988).

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Authors
  1. Horst Bleckmann
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  2. Gottfried Tittel
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  3. Elke Blübaum-Gronau
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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., Tittel, G., Blübaum-Gronau, E. (1989). The Lateral Line System of Surface-Feeding Fish: Anatomy, Physiology, and Behavior. 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_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3560-6_25

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8157-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-3560-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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