Rapid firing rates from mechanosensory neurons in copepod antennules

Small detection distances coupled with rapid movements require copepods to respond to stimuli with behavioral latencies on the order of milliseconds. Receiving adequate sensory information in such a short time necessitates extremely rapid firing rates of the efferent receptors. Here we show that copepod mechanoreceptors can fire at frequencies up to 5 kHz in response to fluid mechanical stimuli. Neural activity at these frequencies enables these animals to code for a range of fluid velocities thus providing important information regarding the nature of different fluid disturbances.