Alcian blue-stained skateUCSF/JULIUS LABSharks, rays, and skates can detect minute fluctuations in electric fields—signals as subtle as a small fish breathing within the vicinity—and rely on specialized electrosensory cells to navigate, and hunt for prey hidden in the sand. But how these elasmobranch fish separate signal from noise has long baffled scientists. In an environment full of tiny electrical impulses, how does the skate home in on prey?
In a study published this week (March 6) in Nature, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), have analyzed the electrosensory cells of the little skate (Leucoraja erinacea). They found that voltage-gated calcium channels within these cells appear to work in concert with calcium-activated potassium channels, both specifically tuned in the little skate to pick up on weak electrical signals.
“We have elucidated a molecular basis for electrosensation, at least in the little skate, which accounts for this unusual and highly sensitive mechanism for detecting electrical fields,” said coauthor Nicholas Bellono, a postdoc at USCF. “How general it is, we don’t know. But this is really the first instance in which we’ve been able to drill down and ask what molecules could be ...
