Crustacean chemoreceptive sensilla

For most crustaceans, chemoreception is the dominant sensory modality. My (MS) interest in crustacean chemoreception started when I realized, during my diploma thesis, that most sensilla of crustaceans contain chemoreceptor neurons and occur in many different types on all appendages. Since then, trying to understand how behavior is controlled by these sensilla has been a cornerstone of my research. I (DM) have been fascinated by crayfish and their behaviors since, as a young boy, I would capture them in a creek near my home and keep them in an aquarium in my bedroom. We have both since then gone long ways trying to unravel the neuronal basis of chemoreception. 

Foraging (e.g., food finding, evaluation and acquisition), agonistic and reproductive behaviors are contexts where chemosensory cues and chemosensory sensilla are essential for most crustaceans. Of those three topics, the role of chemoreception and chemical signals in reproductive behaviors is least understood and needs more research effort in the future. In particular, the role of pheromone receptors in mate-finding and evaluation, courtship, copulation, and brood care is... 

The matching dichotomy of sensilla construction and neuroanatomical organization of sensory neuropils suggests that in crustaceans chemical information is received and processed in two fundamentally different modes. One mode is Olfaction which we define as chemoreception mediated by the aesthetasc - OL pathway the second mode is Distributed Chemoreception, which we define as chemoreception mediated by bimodal sensilla on all appendages and the associated striated neuropils that serve as local motor centers. Distributed chemoreception not only comprises taste, which we define as contact chemoreception in the context of... 

The analysis of chemoreception in crustaceans has been focused almost exclusively on food-related chemicals. However, chemoreception is an important sensory channel in many other behavioral contexts such as social interactions and the assessment of danger from predation. Very likely different chemicals are important in these other contexts, but only recently progress was made in the identification of such chemicals and the sensilla detecting them. 

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