10.5061/DRYAD.T9D744K
Cohen, Karly E.
University of Washington
Flammang, Brooke E.
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Crawford, Callie H.
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Hernandez, L. Patricia
George Washington University
Data from: Knowing when to stick: touch receptors found in the remora
adhesive disc
Dryad
dataset
2019
mechanoreceptor
Adhesion
Echeneidae
2019-12-16T00:00:00Z
2019-12-16T00:00:00Z
en
63697982 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Remoras are fishes that piggyback onto larger marine fauna via an adhesive
disc to increase locomotor efficiency, likelihood of finding mates, and
access to prey. Attaching rapidly to a large, fast moving host is no easy
task, and while research to date has focused on how the disc supports
adhesion, no attention has been paid to how or if remoras are able to
sense attachment. We identified push-rod-like mechanoreceptor complexes
embedded in the soft lip of the remora adhesive disc that are known in
other organisms to respond to touch and shear forces. This is the first
time such mechanoreceptor complexes are described in fishes as they were
only known previously in monotremes. Presence of push-rod-like
mechanoreceptor complexes suggests not only that fishes may be able to
sense their environment in ways not heretofore described, but that
specialized tactile mechanoreceptor complexes may be a more basal
vertebrate feature than previously thought.
Knowing when to stick: touch receptors found in the remora adhesive disc
microCT scan of PTA-stained remora lip RSOS lip data_DCM.zip