Sea snakes (Lapemis curtus) are sensitive to low-amplitude water motions

The sea snake Lapemis curtus is a piscivorous predator that hunts at dusk. Like land snakes, sea snakes have scale sensillae that may be mechanoreceptive, i.e. that may be useful for the detection of water motions produced by prey fish. In addition, inner ear hair cells of sea snakes may also be involved in the detection of hydrodynamic stimuli. We generated water motions and pressure fluctuations with a vibrating sphere. In the test range 50-200 Hz evoked potentials were recorded from the midbrain of L. curtus in response to vibrating sphere stimuli. In terms of water displacement the lowest threshold amplitudes were in the frequency range 100-150 Hz. In this range peak-to-peak water displacement amplitudes of 1.8 microm (at 100 Hz) and 2.0 microm (150 Hz) generated a neural response in the most sensitive animal. Although this low sensitivity may be sufficient for the detection of fish-generated water motions, it makes it unlikely that L. curtus has a special hydrodynamic sense.