QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by PASZTOR, V. M. Articles by CLARAC, F. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by PASZTOR, V. M. Articles by CLARAC, F.

Journal of Experimental Biology 102,59-77 (1983)
Published by Company of Biologists 1983

An Analysis of Waving Behaviour: An Alternative Motor Programme for the Thoracic Appendages of Decapod Crustacea

V. M. PASZTOR ¹ and F. CLARAC ²

¹ Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
² Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Comparée, C.N.R.S. Arcachon, France

1. Decapod Crustacea display a slow metachronal rhythm of the third maxillipeds and pereiopod pairs one to four when undisturbed in the natural habitat. The dactyl tips are lifted off the substrate, and the unweighted limbs promote and remote at a slow frequency (range for all species 9-30 min^-1). Movement is limited to the T-C joint.

2. This behaviour, called waving, has been observed in many macrurans and an analogous activity, limited to the third maxillipeds, has been seen in several brachyurans.

3. Analysis of EMGs shows: (a) the promotor activity increases in strength during a burst due to facilitation and motoneurone recruitment; (b) the rhythm period is stable throughout long waving sessions; (c) the promotor and remotor strokes are of equal duration and co-vary with period.

4. Ipsilateral coupling is strong, with equal phases between adjacent limbs of 0.05. The metachronal wave can pass anteriorly or posteriorly along an ipsilateral row.

5. Bilateral coupling is weak. The two sides maintain equal frequency, and antiphasic coordination between the two ipsilateral sets of limbs is favoured.

6. Possible functions for waving include gill grooming and supplementary gill ventilation.

7. Comparisons between waving and other rhythmical motor programmes are discussed. Waving is an alternative programme for the walking legs, and is expressed when proprioceptive feedback is reduced.

Key words: Waving, thoracic appendages, crustaceans

Submitted on April 5, 1982
Accepted on August 4, 1982

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Duysens, F. Clarac, and H. Cruse Load-Regulating Mechanisms in Gait and Posture: Comparative Aspects Physiol Rev, January 1, 2000; 80(1): 83 - 133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]