Goby fish can act like Goldilocks, too | |
By Sara Loy |
Source: indianapublicmedia |
12/20/2021 |
|
|
Credit: Klaus Stiefel |
We all know the familiar fairytale: Goldilocks enters the three bears’ house and wants to take a nap. Upon feeling the mattresses, she decides that the first bed is too hard; the second bed is too soft; and the third bed is just right!
If this classic story got an aquatic, twenty-first-century update, it might have a new heroine: Goby-locks, as in, the round goby fish, the subject of a study about tactile sensation.
Goby-locks isn’t interested in mammalian mattresses; instead, she rests on the lake floor, brushing her fins over its rocky surface. Previously, scientists thought a fish’s fins were mere motors, useful only for locomotion. This study, however, shows that a round goby’s fins are more like fingertips, able to distinguish between different textures and pressures. |
|
|
To run the study, scientists gathered six gobies from Lake Michigan. They then rolled a bumpy plastic ring across each pectoral fin. The bumps imitated the lakebed: close-textured bumps mimicked the grittiness of sand, while spaced-out bumps mimicked gravelly pebbles. As they recorded electrical spikes from the fins’ nerves, the scientists noticed a pattern: the bumpier the ring, the more electrical spikes were produced. And when the ring sped up, so did the spikes.
All these bumps and spikes suggest that the nerves of Goby-locks’s fin fire like the nerves of us primates—a useful skill in murky waters. Can other fish feel touch the same way? The study opens the door to further research on tactile sensitivity. Goby-locks, meanwhile, continues to explore the world around her—perhaps she’ll find a lakebed that feels just right. |
|
|
|
News Id | | Source | Stamp | country |
3951 | Marine experts: Gulf of Maine has become a cod-forsaken place, endangering all fisheries | bangordailynews | 2013-07-31 | US |
3952 | San Diego angler still fishing at 90, catches giant yellowtail | petethomasoutdoors | 2013-07-25 | US |
3953 | Fish-farm firm awarded $75,000 in defamation ruling | theglobeandmail | 2013-07-22 | CA |
3954 | Cut Off From the Ocean by a Volcanic Eruption, These Fish Had to Learn to Live in a Lake | hakaimagazine | 2021-05-03 | US |
3955 | At least 3.8 million fish killed by winter weather on Texas coast | brownwood news | 2021-05-04 | US |
3956 | Seaspiracy Producer Demands Biden Shut Down Fish Factory Farms | vegnews | 2021-05-06 | US |
3957 | Does ocean acidification alter fish behavior? Fraud allegations create a sea of doubt | sciencemag | 2021-05-06 | AU |
3958 | Combined effort to protect rarest native fish | odt | 2013-07-08 | NZ |
3959 | Record rockfish was 64 years old, not 200, tests show | spokesman | 2013-07-06 | US |
3960 | Trouts under threat as deadly pesticide devastates top fishing river | express | 2013-07-05 | UK |
3961 | In Northern Minnesota, 37-inch pike found dead with 3-pound sucker stuck in jaws | twincities | 2013-07-04 | CA |
3962 | Ancient rockfish caught in Alaska: Why nobody threw it back | latimes | 2013-07-03 | US |
3963 | Growing cold | Antarctic Sun | 2013-07-05 | US |
3964 | Fish in Louisiana lake left covered in sores and blisters after parasite attack | Daily Mail | 2013-06-26 | US |
3965 | Bubble-eyed goldfish has to swim on his own in case he bumps into others and BURSTS his eyes | dailymail | 2013-06-26 | UK |
3966 | Hydromea unveils the world’s first wireless compact underwater drone | | 2021-05-17 | CH |
3967 | This underwater hut acts as a nursery to help the renewal of marine species in the Mediterranean | malaymail | 2021-04-26 | MC |
3968 | A singing fish: it glows green during courtship and looks like Boris Johnson’s hardship face | theguardian | 2021-04-27 | LK |
3969 | Stinging scorpion fish among 10 ‘uncommon species’ recently found in Florida waters | miamiherald | 2021-04-28 | US |
3970 | The scale of fish waste sent to landfill could feed a community | stuff | 2021-04-30 | NZ |
3971 | Asian carp spawn in more areas than 1st thought | CBC News | 2013-06-24 | CA |
3972 | Eklutna, Snettisham hydro projects still haven't redressed fish and wildlife damages | adn | 2017-12-02 | US |
3973 | How Igor The Amazonian Pacu Fish Found A Place Called Home | wlrn | 2013-06-20 | US |
3974 | Man gets jail for cheating in fishing tournament | bemidjipioneer | 2013-06-18 | US |
3975 | Former cheerleader, 19, becomes the first woman to win competition where hopefuls catch catfish with their BARE HANDS | dailymail | 2013-06-25 | UK |
|
|
|
|
|