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Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Activity of Posterior Lateral Line Afferent Neurons during Swimming in Zebrafish
Published on: February 10, 2021
Lateral line layout correlates with the differential hydrodynamic pressure on swimming fish
Leif Ristroph1, James C Liao2, Jun Zhang3
1Applied Math Lab, Courant Institute, New York University, New York, New York 10012, USA.
Abstract:
The lateral line of fish includes the canal subsystem that detects hydrodynamic pressure gradients and is thought to be important in swimming behaviors such as rheotaxis and prey tracking. Here, we explore the hypothesis that this sensory system is concentrated at locations where changes in pressure are greatest during motion through water. Using high-fidelity models of rainbow trout, we mimic the flows encountered during swimming while measuring pressure with fine spatial and temporal resolution. The variations in pressure for perturbations in body orientation and for disturbances to the incoming stream are seen to correlate with the sensory network. These findings support a view of the lateral line as a "hydrodynamic antenna" that is configured to retrieve flow signals and also suggest a physical explanation for the nearly universal sensory layout across diverse species.
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