Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2007
Abstract
Morphology typically enhances the fidelity of sensory systems. Sharks, skates, and rays have a well-developed electrosense that presents strikingly unique morphologies. Here, we model the dynamics of the peripheral electrosensory system of the skate, a dorsally flattened batoid, moving near an electric dipole source (e.g., a prey organism). We compute the coincident electric signals that develop across an array of the skate's electrosensors, using electrodynamics married to precise morphological measurements of sensor location, infrastructure, and vector projection. Our results demonstrate that skate morphology enhances electrosensory information. Not only could the skate locate prey using a simple population vector algorithm, but its morphology also specifically leads to quick shifts in firing rates that are well-suited to the demonstrated bandwidth of the electrosensory system. Finally, we propose electrophysiology trials to test the modeling scheme.
DOI
10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030113
Recommended Citation
Camperi M, Tricas TC, Brown BR (2007) From Morphology to Neural Information: The Electric Sense of the Skate. PLoS Comput Biol 3(6): e113. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030113
Comments
Published by Public Library of Science under Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license
Article available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030113