An ancient sensory organ in crocodilians

Waiting alligators can detect silent ripples in the water even in total darkness.

Abstract

Crocodilians hunt at night, waiting half-submerged for land-bound prey to disturb the water surface. Here I show that crocodilians have specialized sensory organs on their faces that can detect small disruptions in the surface of the surrounding water, and which are linked to a dedicated, hypertrophied nerve system. Such 'dome' pressure receptors are also evident in fossils from the Jurassic period, indicating that these semi-aquatic predators solved the problem of combining armour with tactile sensitivity many millions of years ago.