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Responses of medullary lateral line units of the rudd, Scardinius erythrophthalmus, and the nase, Chondrostoma nasus, to vortex streets

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Abstract

Fish use their mechanosensory lateral line amongst others for the detection of vortices shed by an upstream object and/or for the detection of vortices caused by the tail fin movements of another fish. Thus, vortices are one type of hydrodynamic stimuli to which fish are exposed in their natural environment. We investigated the responses of medullary lateral line units of common rudd, Scardinius erythrophthalmus, and common nase, Chondrostoma nasus (Cyprinidae), to water flow (9.5–13.3 cm−1) that contained vortices (a Kármán vortex street) shed by an upstream cylinder (diameter 2 cm). The distance between the cylinder and the tip of the fish’s snout varied between 8 and 24 cm. 21 out of 42 units (S. erythrophthalmus), respectively, 9 out of 39 units (Chondrostoma nasus) responded to the vortices shed by the cylinder. Up to a cylinder distance of 24 cm, interburst intervals revealed the vortex shedding frequency, i.e., burst frequency was similar to or identical with the vortex shedding frequency.

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Abbreviations

CN:

Canal neuromast

MON:

Medial octavolateralis nucleus

Pdf:

Probability density function

PIV:

Particle image velocimetry

RF:

Receptive field

SN:

Superficial neuromast

VSF:

Vortex shedding frequency

VSD:

Vortex shedding delay

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Acknowledgements

We thank Joachim Mogdans for reading and commenting on an earlier version of the manuscript. The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by the DFG (GRK 1572) and the BMBF. The research reported herein was performed under the guidelines established by the current German animal protection law (Landesamt für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz NRW, 87-51.04.2010. A013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Zoology, Poppelsdorfer Schloss, University of Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Jan Winkelnkemper, Simon Kranz & Horst Bleckmann

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  1. Jan Winkelnkemper
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  2. Simon Kranz
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  3. Horst Bleckmann
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Correspondence to Horst Bleckmann.

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Winkelnkemper, J., Kranz, S. & Bleckmann, H. Responses of medullary lateral line units of the rudd, Scardinius erythrophthalmus, and the nase, Chondrostoma nasus, to vortex streets. J Comp Physiol A 204, 155–166 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-017-1217-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-017-1217-1

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