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How Sharks Sense Temperature Change

Posted by chrisd on from the jabberjaws-is-sensitive dept.

Makarand writes "Unlike mammals that use ion channels in their cell walls to produce electrical currents and fire nerves in response to changing temperatures, sharks have been found to be using a totally different approach, one that does not rely on the ion channel mechanism at all. According to this article in Nature a temperature sensitive gel in the pores of the snout allows the shark to sense temperature differences as little as 0.001 C. Increasing temperatures improve electrical conductance of this gel which is noticed by electrically sensitive nerve cells. This may also explain how sharks are able to locate where water masses of different temperatures meet in the oceans to find prey. A synthetic version of the shark gel may be of interest to the microelectronics industry."

14 comments

  1. Re:Frist Pist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    wow, how do you do that, man?

  2. Hmmm..... by __aafkqj3628 · · Score: 1

    So, if we crank up the temperature, will we boil them (mmmm, tasty) or electricute them (fried is better) first?

  3. Correction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Plants have cell walls, animals have cell membranes.

    That is all.

  4. Typo in post text (what else is new) by Thing+1 · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    a temperature sensitive gel in the pores of the snout allows the shark to sense temperature differences as little as 0.001 C.

    The actual article says "Warming the gel - by as little as 0.1 C - increases its electrical conductance, Brown finds."

    Still impressive, though.

    Rant about what the duties of editors are supposed to be deleted...

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    1. Re:Typo in post text (what else is new) by Thing+1 · · Score: 1
      My bad. The next paragraph says "The gel may enable them to detect water's temperature to within 0.001 C."

      So the submitter didn't get it wrong, but there seems to be a lack of explanation how they got from 0.1 to 0.001...

      That's what I get for not RT(whole)FA before posting.

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  5. Applications... by blacklite001 · · Score: 1

    I suppose eventually we'll be genetically engineering bacteria to make us this semiconducting gel. Perhaps it'll be useful for nanorobotics.

    Last time I tried reading this story, it disappeared. Not to mention the horrible load times lately. Can we get some news about what's up?

  6. Sure but... by tha_mink · · Score: 1

    All I asked for was sharks with laser beams on their freakin heads!

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    1. Re:Sure but... by tha_mink · · Score: 1

      s/on/attached to

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      You'll have that sometimes...
  7. cool... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...heat-seeking snot! :D

  8. meh - not quite there yet. by Drunken_Jackass · · Score: 1

    Given the fact that the guy proved that the gel can produce electic stimulus given a temperature gradient, he still has to prove that those impulses can be transported to and interpreted by the brain/another organ.

    Don't get me wrong, i think that he'll eventually prove that, but until then, people shouldn't take such a prelimiary study and make so many assumptions about the consequences of the results.

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  9. Useful range? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sharks exist mostly in water that's between, say, 28 and 86 degrees F. That's a great range for sensing temperatures in a shark, or anything else in seawater, but who says the gel is going to be useful outside that range? It might work accidentally, but evolution doesn't always over-engineer its solutions.

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  10. overheard by a sonar man by msouth · · Score: 1

    Is it...ahhCHOO ... cold in here ... ah-ah-ah-CHOO ..or is it just AHCHOO me?

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