The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
Congratulations to the Liao Lab for the recent paper published in the Journal of Experimental Biology titled “Head width influences flow sensing by the lateral line canal system in fishes.” The paper is authored by Yuzo Yanagitsuru, past member of the Liao Lab and now Ph.D. student at UC Davis, Otar Akanyeti, past member of the Liao Lab and now assistant professor at Aberystwyth University, and James Liao, associate professor of biology at Whitney Laboratory and University of Florida term professor.
In this study, the Liao Lab explored how the head shape of fishes can influence flow sensing by inserting pressure sensors into physical fish head models of various sizes made with a 3D-printer and exposing the models to different flow regimes in their flow tank. The results show that sensory information is maximized at the anterior regions of the head and is most sensitive to vortices at low flow speeds, which provides insight into the sensory ecology of fishes and has implications for the design of autonomous underwater vehicles.