{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T22:58:12Z","timestamp":1783551492393,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"The Company of Biologists","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,1,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Prior efforts to characterize the capabilities of the vibrissal system in seals have yielded conflicting results. Here we measured the sensitivity of the vibrissal system of a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) to directly coupled sinusoidal stimuli delivered by a vibrating plate. A trained seal was tested in a psychophysical paradigm to determine the smallest velocity that was detectable at nine frequencies ranging from 10\u2005Hz to 1000\u2005Hz. The stimulus plate was driven by a vibration shaker and the velocity of the plate at each frequency-amplitude combination was calibrated with a laser vibrometer. To prevent cueing from other sensory stimuli, the seal was fitted with a blindfold and headphones playing broadband masking noise. The seal was sensitive to vibrations across the range of frequencies tested, with best sensitivity of 0.09\u2005mm\/s at 80\u2005Hz. Velocity thresholds as a function of frequency showed a characteristic U-shaped curve with decreasing sensitivity below 20\u2005Hz and above 250\u2005Hz. To ground-truth the experimental setup, four human subjects were tested in the same paradigm using their thumb to contact the vibrating plate. Threshold measurements for the humans were similar to those of the seal, demonstrating comparable tactile sensitivity for their structurally different mechanoreceptive systems.\u00a0The thresholds measured for the harbor seal in\u00a0this study were about 100 times more sensitive than previous in-air measures of vibrissal sensitivity for this species. The results\u00a0were similar to those reported by others for the detection\u00a0of\u00a0waterborne vibrations, but show an extended range of frequency sensitivity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.118240","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,6,10]],"date-time":"2015-06-10T16:31:18Z","timestamp":1433953878000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Vibrissal sensitivity in a harbor seal (<i>Phoca vitulina<\/i>)"],"prefix":"10.1242","author":[{"given":"Christin T.","family":"Murphy","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"American Society for Engineering Education, 1176 Howell St, Newport, RI 02841, USA"},{"name":"University of South Florida, College of Marine Science, 140 7th Ave. South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Colleen","family":"Reichmuth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of California, Santa Cruz, Institute of Marine Sciences, 100 Shaffer Rd, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Mann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of South Florida, College of Marine Science, 140 7th Ave. South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA"},{"name":"Loggerhead Instruments, 6576 Palmer Park Circle, Sarasota, FL 34238, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"237","reference":[{"key":"2021042509032260300_JEB118240C1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"356","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.00794.2010","article-title":"A comparison of neuronal and behavioral detection and discrimination performances in rat whisker system","volume":"105","author":"Adibi","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. 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