30/08/2025
The fifth instalment of our Biology Deep Dive series, this time with a focus on rays sensory organs. The lateral line system and the Ampullae of Lorenzini.
Depending on the species or the environment certain senses are more or less important to them for locating their prey. Elasmobranchs and Batoids use the chemoreception (senses of smell), vision, hearing, the lateral line system, and ampullae of Lorenzini (electroreception) for capturing prey.
The lateral line system, which most fish possess, allows them to detect waves of pressure or mechanical disturbances in the water. The ampullae of Lorenzini are receptors that can detect weak electric fields that prey naturally give off. This sense is unique to rays and skates and their relatives. They primarily use this sense to locate prey that is buried under the bottom sediments.
Skates also possess weakly electric discharge organs located in their tails (Electric Discharge Organ (EODs)), composed of specialized electrocytes that generate low-voltage electric signals. These discharges are used primarily for communication, such as mating and species recognition, rather than for defense or hunting.
Further reading:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18655157/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780123745538001313
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29849147/
Photo by: David Julius Lab
Diagrams by: Bellono, Nicholas & Leitch, Duncan & Julius, David. (2018). Molecular tuning of electroreception in sharks and skates. Nature. 558. 10.1038/s41586-018-0160-9. , Maruska, Karen & Tricas, Tim. (1998). Morphology of the mechanosensory lateral line system in the Atlantic Stingray, Dasyatis sabina: The mechanotactile hypothesis. Journal of Morphology. 238. 1 - 22. 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4687(199810)238:13.0.CO;2-D.
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