Fishes’ Sixth Sense - 11/10/15

By John Racanelli

Published November 10, 2015 at 8:44 AM EST

We have five senses; ask any schoolchild and they can rattle them off on the fingers of one hand: hearing, taste, smell, touch and sight.

But fish go one step beyond the senses we know in the form of a lateral line—a sensory system that allows fish to detect minute water currents like vibrations and pressure gradients.

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John Racanelli

As chief executive officer, John Racanelli leads a team of 600 full and part-time employees and 1,000 volunteers in pursuing the National Aquarium’s mission to inspire conservation of the world’s aquatic treasures. More than 1.5 million people annually visit the Aquarium’s venue in Baltimore, Maryland, while millions more are touched by the Aquarium’s education programs, outreach activities, social media campaigns and conservation initiatives.

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