Electrolocation in the platypus--some speculations.
In the platypus, electroreceptors are located in rostro-caudal rows in skin of the bill, while mechanoreceptors are uniformly distributed across the bill. The electrosensory area of the cerebral cortex is contained within the tactile somatosensory area, and some cortical cells receive input from both electroreceptors and mechanoreceptors, suggesting a close association between the tactile and electric senses. Platypus can determine the direction of an electric source, perhaps by comparing differences in signal strength across the sheet of electroreceptors as the animal characteristically moves its head from side to side while hunting. The cortical convergence of electrosensory and tactile inputs suggests a mechanism for determining the distance of prey items which, when they move, emit both electrical signals and mechanical pressure pulses. Distance could be computed from the difference in time of arrival of the two signals. Much of the platypus' feeding is done by digging in the bottom of streams with the bill. Perhaps the electroreceptors could also be used to distinguish animate and inanimate objects in this situation where the mechanoreceptors would be continuously stimulated. Much of this is speculation, and there is still much to be learned about electroreception in the platypus and its fellow monotreme, the echidna.
Proske
Uwe
U
Department of Physiology, P.O. Box 13F, Monash University VIC 3800, Melbourne, Australia. uwe.proske@med.monash.edu.au
Gregory
Ed
E
D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology; D010987:Platypus / Q000502:physiology*; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013997:Time Factors