Dance your PhD- Christin Murphy

Hydrodynamic trail detection in marine organisms

Hydrodynamic trails are generated when objects move though a fluid medium. These vortices provide robust, persistent stimuli that can convey spatial and temporal information. Facial vibrissae, or whiskers, in phocid seals, and antennae in lobsters contain receptors that detect waterborne vibrations and hydrodynamic trails. This is critical for prey capture and predator avoidance, allowing hunting and navigation in dark or murky waters.
In this piece, there is interplay between the detection of hydrodynamic trails by organisms at different trophic levels in the marine environment.
The movement of the lobsters generates hydrodynamic signals with spinning vortex structures, conveying information about their locomotion and spatial location. These signals propagate through the fluid medium and are detected by the whiskers of a nearby seal. The receptors on the whiskers of this animal enable it to track and localize its potential prey. However, the antennae of the lobsters also possess hydrodynamic receptors. The lobsters sense the predators approach and attempt to escape.
Once a shark begins swimming overhead, its hydrodynamic trails are sensed by all of the nearby organisms, signaling the presence of a large predator. Detection of the sharks hydrodynamic signals allows the smaller organisms to seek shelter and avoid predation. The hydrodynamic wake extending behind the shark is visualized in this dance by the trailing movement of the silks.
The fire and illuminated hoops in the next segment represent the availability of hydrodynamic signals in low light conditions. In environments where visual information is limited, such as dark, deep and murky water, hydrodynamic signals become the predominant stimuli.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Dance
• hoop
• dance
• hoola
• hula
• PhD
• Hydrodynamic
• Shark
• Seals
• Lobsters
• Acrobatics
• Beach
• Boys
• Fire

[walterwhippet]

I'm in the flippin competition, and I hope you win this. (well, I'm in the postdoc category & am the only other marine scientist). This is a masterpiece of kitsch art.

[chick7489]

lol this video is pretty interesting. Imagine how much strength one must have to support themselves with a cloth.. Wow that must be really hard. I loved the songs! My favorite was the one that started about 3.20. Very cool with the lights and the fire. That must take some guts to circile fire around your body especially face. Loved the video!

[lilicenutz]

lol holy crap, im lovin this

[beadtific]

This is beautifully done and illustrates the work far more clearly than other dances I've seen, plus the complexity of the choreography and costumes are very impressive. I have kind of an absurd affection for Mr. Whiskers.

[aquanite777]

Christin,

That was GREAT!!!! I am going to be in Tampa next March for a show....I hope I get to see you. Love,

Uncle Brian

[finitube]

Dumbed down? This is brilliant. Scientists are not one dimensional -- hooray!!!

[sircules]

Science was poor. Art was great. I felt like I was watching an early rehearsal for a Cirque de Soliel show. I completely failed to understand the scientific message. Come to Vegas. We'll put you to work!

[feurzug]

Dumbing it down?

QUESTION: Is this more "dumbing it down"? Who will win in the long run - those with the dumbed down knowledge or thosew who did the hard work - digging, questioning, proving and disproving? I suspect this is more dumbed down knowledge for the academically lazy.

[MentalSphere]

Wow Matthias your friends are even more of bionerds than I am. I'm impressed.

[hushpuppymix2]

JUST heard about this phenomenon on NPR a few days ago! But hadn't seen your email til today! SO AWESOME!!!  Wow.

[xrumax]

Well - I cannot believe this did not win ... awesome fun video - I do like the tune myself