Sensory System Essay

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Introduction to the physiological system to be discussed
Sensory systems are essential to a mammal’s survival and for providing important information concerning their internal and external environment (Hill et al., 2011). Sensory systems depend on specialized sensory receptor cells that respond to stimuli, either from the mammals’ internal or external environment (2011). One form of sensory is electroreception, which is the detection of electrical currents or fields in aquatic mammals and mechanoreceptors are specialized to respond to different types of mechanical stimuli, such as touch, taste, smell, etc. (2011). The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) exhibits electroreception with the help of mechanoreceptors to detect prey item while submerged in water.
In general, electroreceptive fishes are categorized into non-electric fishes and electric fishes (Crampton & Albert, 2005). On the one hand, non-electric fish do not possess electric organs and use passive electroreception, which is when the fish reacts to external electric stimuli (2005). On the other hand, electric fish are fishes that have specialized electric organs (electrosensory organs) present and use active electroreception, which produce or generate electrical stimuli (2005). The receptors that electric or non-electric fishes use to detect the electrical stimuli are called pit organs that are often open to the surrounding water by way of canals that are filled with an electrically conductive gelatinous substance (2005). There are two types of pit organs: tuberous electroreceptive organ, which are used in active electroreception, and ampullary electroreceptive organ, which is used in passive electroreception.
The tuberous electreceptive organ is covered wi...

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...regions of the fish, there are electroreceivers that detect distortions in the electric field (1993). The arrangements of the electrocytes are important because it allows the gymnotid to detect what’s ahead and then use its tail to produce a charge. If electroreceivers were in the tail region, the mammal would detect electric signals a lot slower. In ion-poor waters, like freshwater, allows the gymnotid to generate electric signals because little current is needed to sustain a detectable voltage (Stoddard, 2009).
Gymnotids have tuberous electroreceptors that have numerous layers of epithelial, which allows for low capacitance. This means the electroreceptor has a low ability to store electrical charge, which is beneficial because the mammal wants to discharge the electricity and the mammal would not want the electroreceptor to be good at holding the electricity in.

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