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Morphological Diversity of Equilibrium Receptor Systems in Aquatic Invertebrates

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Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals

Abstract

For proper behavior and orientation in space, any organism with the capacity to move needs information about its attitude and movement. This information is provided by equilibrium receptor systems. These enable the organism to control its position and motor activities in the three dimensions of space, using the gravitational field as a reference system. Compared with all other reference systems, such as light, sound, odor, and taste, the gravitational field is characterized by a unique feature: during the life span of an organism it is nearly constant in both magnitude and direction. Thus, the gravitational field is an ideal reference system, and during the course of evolution all organisms that use locomotion have developed specialized receptor systems for equilibrium orientation that make use of this reference system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Biomedical Institute, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Galveston, TX, 77550, USA

    Bernd-Ulrich Budelmann

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  1. Bernd-Ulrich Budelmann
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Biological Laboratory, Boston University Marine Program, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 02543, USA

    Jelle Atema

  2. Parmly Hearing Institute, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, 60626, USA

    Richard R. Fay

  3. Department of Zoology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

  4. Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, Florida, 33577, USA

    William N. Tavolga

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Budelmann, BU. (1988). Morphological Diversity of Equilibrium Receptor Systems in Aquatic Invertebrates. In: Atema, J., Fay, R.R., Popper, A.N., Tavolga, W.N. (eds) Sensory Biology of Aquatic Animals. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3714-3_30

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