Download Does sturgeon do use electrosense in predating

Does sturgeon do use electrosense in predating?
Xu-Guang ZHANG 1, Jia-Kun SONG1,*, Hendrik Herzog 2
1
Institute for Marine Biosystem and Neuroscience, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306,
China
2
Institute of zoology, University of Bonn, Poppelsdorfer Schloss, Bonn 53115, Germany
*Corresponding author
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Objective The electro-receptive lateral line system appears in the early
evolutionary history of fish. One of the primitive Chondrostei fish group, sturgeon,
is well known to have the electroreceptors (the ampullay Lourenzeni organs) on the
head. They were thought to be sensitive to weak electric fields in aquatic environment
and being used in behaviors of prey detecting, mating, and migrating; however, there
was little experimental evidence could find directly to support the claim. Here we
report our results of behavioral and electrophysiological experiments that are
specifically designed to investigate the function and characters of the electrosensory
in sturgeon. First, we record the electronic characters of the bio-electrical field of their
living prey. Then, we investigate the behavioral pattern of the Siberian Sturgeon,
Acipenser baerii in response to the identified bio-electrical field (produced by
embedding the living prey fish in the gel chamber). Third, we record the response
properties of the electrosensory neurons in the hind brain from the dorsal
octavolateralis nucleus (DON) of the White Sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus with
the simulating sinusoidal electric field according to the identified characters of the
bio-electrical field produced by living prey.
We find that (1) the bio-electrical field of prey fish presented as direct current
electric field of dipole type with negative potential on head and positive potential on
tail and modulated into alternating electric field by respiration rhythm; (2) During the
stimulation, DON units increased their firing rate and phase coupled the stimulation
wave and showed the selectivity of dipolar direction. These behavioral and
electrophysiological results are first solid evidence to point out that the electrosense of
Sturgeon does being used in predating (feeding) behavior.
Keywords: electrosense, sturgeon, behavior, dipole, hindbrain