Discrimination of sounds based on the phase difference between particle motion and acoustic pressure in the shark Chiloscyllium griseum.
The reported psychophysical study indicates that a shark not only detects particle motion in a sound field (f = 84 Hz) but moreover shows a sensitivity to acoustic pressure. These results are remarkable because sharks lack a gas bladder that can act as a pressure-to-displacement transformer enabling the hair cells in the labyrinths to respond to acoustic pressure indirectly. The probable significance of the observed phenomena for acoustic localization in fish is discussed and a possible pressure-to-displacement transformer in shark is proposed.
D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D004423:Ear / Q000502:physiology; D006874:Hydrostatic Pressure; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology; D009038:Motion; D012754:Sharks / Q000502:physiology*