The analysis of sound by the sprat ear
- 1 November 1979
- journal article
- Published by Springer Nature in Nature
- Vol. 282 (5737), 406-407
- https://doi.org/10.1038/282406a0
Abstract
In the acoustico-lateralis systems of vertebrates the individual hair cells are usually polarised in their responses to displacements of the liquid in which they lie, and are often arranged in back-to-back pairs or groups with different polarities. A simple example to investigate, mechanically as well as electrically, is the utriculus of the sprat (Clupea sprattus L.). The acoustico-lateralis system of the sprat and other clupeids has two partly gas-filled bony bullae which transform pressure changes into liquid displacements capable of stimulating the sense organs of the ear and lateral line. With its related structures the utriculus is a very sensitive sound pressure detector which has one population of receptors that respond to the compressions and another that respond to the decompressions of a sound wave. We now give additional evidence that this type of organisation is unlike that of the mammalian cochlea in being specialised more for the detection of phase/time relationships than for frequency analysis.Keywords
This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- The herring ear has a unique receptor patternNature, 1979
- The mechanics of the clupeid acoustico-lateralis system: low frequency measurementsJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1979
- The mechanics of the clupeid acoustico-lateralis system: frequency responsesJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1979
- The Functional Anatomy and Development of the Swimbladder-Inner Ear-Lateral Line System in Herring and SpratJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1976
- Cochlear-Microphonic and Summating Potentials and the Outputs of Individual Hair-Cell GeneratorsThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1965
- The microphonic activity of the lateral lineThe Journal of Physiology, 1952
- The microphonic effect of teleost labyrinths and its biological significanceThe Journal of Physiology, 1943