Basic discoveries suggest robotics applications
Fish and some amphibians possess a unique sensory capability in the so-called lateral-line system. It allows them, in effect, to "touch" objects in their surroundings without direct physical contact or to "see" in the dark. Professor Leo van Hermmen and his team in the physics department of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen are exploring the fundamental basis for this sensory system. What they discover might one day, through biomimetic engineering, better equip robots to orient themselves in their environments.
With our senses we take in only a small fraction of the information that surrounds us. Infrared light, electromagnetic waves, and ultrasound are just a few examples of the external influences that we humans can grasp only with the help of technological measuring devices - whereas some other animals use special sense organs, their own biological equipment, for the purpose. One such system found in fish and some amphibians is under investigation by the research team of Professor Leo van Hemmen, chair of theoretical biophysics at TUM, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen.
Even in murky waters hardly penetrated by light, pike and pickerel can feel out their prey before making contact. The blind Mexican cave fish can perceive structures in its surroundings and can effortlessly avoid obstacles. Catfish on the hunt follow invisible tracks that lead directly to their prey. The organ that makes this possible is the lateral-line system, which registers changes in currents and even smaller disturbances, providing backup support for the sense of sight particularly in dark or muddy waters.
This remote sensing system, at first glance mysterious, rests on measurement of the pressure distribution and velocity field in the surrounding water. The lateral-line organs responsible for this are aligned along the left and right sides of the fish's body and also surround the eyes and mouth. They consist of gelatinous, flexible, flag-like units about a tenth of a millimeter long. These so-called neuromasts - which sit either directly on the animal's skin or just underneath, in channels that water can permeate through pores - are sensitive to the slightest motion of the water. Coupled to them are hair cells similar to the acoustic pressure sensors in the human inner ear. Nerves deliver signals from the hair cells for processing in the brain, which localizes and identifies possible sources of the changes detected in the water's motion.
These changes can arise from various sources: A fish swimming by produces vibrations or waves that are directly conveyed to the lateral-line organ. Schooling fishes can recognize a nearby attacker and synchronize their swimming motion so that they resemble a single large animal. The Mexican cave fish pushes a bow wave ahead of itself, which is reflected from obstacles. The catfish takes advantage of the fact that a swimming fish that beats its tail fin leaves a trail of eddies behind. This so-called "vortex street" persists for more than a minute and can betray the prey.
For the past five years, Leo van Hemmen and his team have been investigating the capabilities of the lateral-line system and assessing the potential to translate it into technology. How broad is the operating range of such a sense organ, and what details can it reveal about moving objects? Which stimuli does the lateral-line system receive from the eddy trail of another fish, and how are these stimuli processed? To get to the bottom of these questions, the scientists develop mathematical models and compare these with experimentally observed electrical nerve signals called action potentials. The biophysicists acquire the experimental data - measurements of lateral-line organ activity in clawed frogs and cave fish - through collaboration with biologists. "Biological systems follow their own laws," van Hemmen says, "but laws that are universally valid within biology and can be described mathematically - once you find the right biophysical or biological concepts, and the right formula."
The models yield surprisingly intuitive-sounding conclusions: Fish can reliably fix the positions of other fish in terms of a distance corresponding to their own body length. Each fish broadcasts definite and distinguishing information about itself into the field of currents. So if, for example, a prey fish discloses its size and form to a possible predator within the radius of its body length, the latter can decide if a pursuit is worth the effort. This is a key finding of van Hemmen's research team.