electric field detection in sawfish and shovelnose rays电场在锯鳐和铲鲨射线检测.pdfVIP

Electric Field Detection in Sawfish and Shovelnose Rays 1,2 3 4 5 4 Barbara E. Wueringer *, Lyle Squire Jnr , Stephen M. Kajiura , Ian R. Tibbetts , Nathan S. Hart , Shaun P. Collin1,4,6 1The University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 2 The University of Western Australia, School of Animal Biology and the UWA Oceans Institute, Crawley WA, Australia, 3 Cairns Marine, Stratford, Queensland, Australia, 4 Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, United States of America, 5 The University of Queensland, School of Biological Sciences, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 6 The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Abstract In the aquatic environment, living organisms emit weak dipole electric fields, which spread in the surrounding water. Elasmobranchs detect these dipole electric fields with their highly sensitive electroreceptors, the ampullae of Lorenzini. Freshwater sawfish, Pristis microdon, and two species of shovelnose rays, Glaucostegus typus and Aptychotrema rostrata were tested for their reactions towards weak artificial electric dipole fields. The comparison of sawfishes and shovelnose rays sheds light on the evolution and function of the elongated rostrum (‘saw’) of sawfish, as both groups evolved from a shovelnose ray-like ancestor. Electric stimuli were presented both on the substrate (to mimic benthic prey) and suspended in the water column (to mimic free-swimming prey). Analysis of around 480 behavioural sequences shows that all three species are highly sensitive towards weak electric dipole fields, and initiate beh