MCZ Lunchtime Seminar

Making the Invisible Visible: Flow Sensors in the Lateral Line System of Fishes

Jacqueline Webb
Professor Emerita
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Rhode Island

Dr. Webb will talk about her work on the morphology and development of the mechanosensory lateral line system, the flow sensing system found in all fishes. She will show how use of a combination of imaging techniques (SEM, fluorescent staining, histology) has revealed populations of large numbers of neuromast sensory organs on the skin in taxonomically and ecologically diverse taxa. She will also discuss structure-function relationships at the level of individual neuromasts and the “rules” defining the organization of dozens to thousands of neuromasts in precise arrays whose behavioral roles are yet to be determined. 

Photo credit: Max Hampton