Neurology: an ancient sensory organ in crocodilians.
Crocodilians hunt at night, waiting half-submerged for land-bound prey to disturb the water surface. Here I show that crocodilians have specialized sensory organs on their faces that can detect small disruptions in the surface of the surrounding water, and which are linked to a dedicated, hypertrophied nerve system. Such 'dome' pressure receptors are also evident in fossils from the Jurassic period, indicating that these semi-aquatic predators solved the problem of combining armour with tactile sensitivity many millions of years ago.
Soares
Daphne
D
Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA. daph@wam.umd.edu
D000489:Alligators and Crocodiles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003624:Darkness; D005145:Face / Q000502:physiology; D005580:Fossils; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology; D009038:Motion; D010802:Phylogeny; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*; D014872:Water Movements