German scientists from the University of Munich have discovered a sixth sense in certain fish and amphibians that allows them to “touch” objects located around them without having any direct physical contact or “seeing” in the dark.
According to the biophysicist Leo van Hermmen, co-author of the research, the man with his five senses loses much of the information that surrounds him, such as infrared lights, electromagnetic waves or ultrasounds, which only with the help of technology can we detect. However, in the animal world there are many species with special sense organs.
A unique case is that ofmexican blind fish (Astyanax mexicanus) that inhabits dark caves and canfeel things before touching themand overcome obstacles without resorting to vision. The organ that makes this possible is thelateral line system, which measures the pressure distribution and velocity of the surrounding water,recording even the smallest disturbances. The remote sensors responsible for this sixth sense are calledneuromastos and they are distributed along the left and right sides of the body of the fish, in addition to surrounding the eyes and mouth. Next to them are cells with hairs similar to the acoustic pressure sensors in the human inner ear. The nerves send signals from these hair cells, which are processed by the brain, responsible for locating and identifying the origin of the changes detected in the movement of water.
“Technology has caught up with nature in some areas,” says van Hemmen, “but it lags far behind in cognitive processing of sensory impressions.” ? My dream is to equip robots with multiple sensory modalities like these fish ?, he concludes.
