A comparison of the performance of two sensory systems in host detection and location in the medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis.
1. Mechanical and visual stimuli associated with surface waves were separated into their two components. 2. Unfed leeches responded to the mechanical component of artificially generated surface waves by swimming towards their source. 3. Leeches also responded to and orientated towards the source of the waves using visual cues derived from the same surface waves. 4. Visual stimuli elicited fewer and less accurate responses.
Carlton
T
T
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London, Egham, Surrey, U.K.
McVean
A
A
D000818:Animals; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000502:physiology; D007865:Leeches / Q000502:physiology*; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D010786:Photoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*