What Does the Lateral Line System Do?
Lateral line systems are extremely important sensory organs for most creatures that live a majority of their life within the water. For predators, the lateral line system allows better hunting abilities due to increased awareness of the location and movement of prey. For non-predatory animals on the other hand, a lateral line system helps to keep the animal aware of possible dangers and allows for schooling behavior (group movement). For all animals, such systems are an important way of monitoring depth via atmospheric pressure. What Animals Have Lateral Line Systems? Lateral line systems are found in many different types of animals. As mentioned before, animals that spend the majority of their lives in water tend to have at least basic lateral line systems in place. Some animals that spend only part of their time in water also have evolved basic sensory organs that resemble lateral line systems found in fish and sharks. For instance, amphibian larvae generally have them, as do some va
