Abstract
WHEN the ampullæ of Lorenzini were first studied experimentally (see ref. 1), they were considered to be sensitive to mechanical stimuli like the other organs of the acoustico-lateralis system. But when Sand2 recorded the electrical activity in their nerves, he found no response to mechanical stimuli but only to thermal stimuli; large, transient changes in impulse frequency occurred when the temperature was changed slightly. Ever since it has been widely accepted3 that the function of the ampullæ is thermo-reception, but this opinion has never been confirmed by behavioural experiment.
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References
Parker, G. H., Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., 29, 43 (1909).
Sand, A., Proc. Roy. Soc. B, 125, 524 (1938).
Prosser, C. L. (edit.), “Comparative Animal Physiology”, 351 (Saunders, Philadelphia, 1950). Hensel, H., Z. vergl. Physiol., 37, 509 (1955).
Lowenstein, O., J. Exp. Biol., 33, 417 (1956).
Dotterweich, H., Zool. Jb., Abt. 3, 50, 347 (1932).
Murray, R. W., J. Exp. Biol. (in the press).
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MURRAY, R. Evidence for a Mechanoreceptive Function of the Ampullæ of Lorenzini. Nature 179, 106–107 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1038/179106a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/179106a0
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