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Perception of Water Surface Waves: How Surface Waves Are Used for Prey Identification, Prey Localization, and Intraspecific Communication

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Progress in Sensory Physiology

Part of the book series: Progress in Sensory Physiology ((PHYSIOLOGY,volume 5))

Abstract

The surfaces of lakes, ponds and even puddles provide very special environments. Wherever air and calm water meet, a surface film divides the dry world above from the wet world below. The particular properties of the water surface are created by the attractive forces between water molecules. Within a body of water these forces occur equally from all sides, but near the surface the attractive forces from below are greater than those from above; hence the molecules near the water-air interface are pulled toward the water’s center of mass. As a result the surface acts as if it were a stretched elastic membrane, supporting objects with a density greater than that of water and allowing certain animals to stand and move on it.

Financial support for the experimental work of the author was provided by the Deutsche Forchungsgemeinschaft grants to E. Schwartz (Schw. 21/5)and F. G. Barth (SFB 45, A4)

I am Grateful to Dr. W. Gnatzy for critically reading the manuscript and to J. Ruthven for commenting on the English

Present address: University of California, San Diego, Department of Neurosciences A-001, School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gruppe Sinnesphysiologie, Zoologisches Institut der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Siesmayerstrasse 70, 6000, Frankfurt am Main 1, Germany

    H. Bleckmann

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  1. H. Bleckmann
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut der, Universität München, Luisenstraße 14, 8000, München 2, Germany

    Hansjochem Autrum

  2. Fysiologiska Institutionen II, Karolinska Institutet, Solnavägen 1, 10401, Stockholm 60, Sweden

    David Ottoson (Editor-in-Chief) (Editor-in-Chief)

  3. Department of Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27514, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Edward R. Perl

  4. Physiologisches Institut der Universität, Röntgenring 9, 8700, Würzburg, Germany

    Robert F. Schmidt

  5. Department of Neurophysiology, University of Tokyo, Institute of Brain Research, 7.3.1. Hongo, Bunkyo Ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Hiroshi Shimazu

  6. The Marine Biomedical Institute, University of Texas Medical Branch, 77550, Galveston, TX, USA

    William D. Willis

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Bleckmann, H. (1985). Perception of Water Surface Waves: How Surface Waves Are Used for Prey Identification, Prey Localization, and Intraspecific Communication. In: Autrum, H., Ottoson, D., Perl, E.R., Schmidt, R.F., Shimazu, H., Willis, W.D. (eds) Progress in Sensory Physiology. Progress in Sensory Physiology, vol 5. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70408-6_4

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