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 Aerts, P. Articles by De Vree, F. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Aerts, P. Articles by De Vree, F.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 177, Issue 1 129-148, Copyright © 1993 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

FEEDING PERFORMANCE AND MUSCULAR CONSTRAINTS IN FISH

P. Aerts and F. De Vree

Analysis of the feeding kinematics of Astatotilapia (a small cichlid fish) suggests the presence of peripheral feedback modulation of the motor pattern, allowing the act of suction to be abbreviated. In this way, the effort spent in suction is minimized. The biological significance of the development of such a modulating feedback system is not immediately obvious from a 'classical ecological' point of view. It is postulated that the muscular metabolism itself might constrain the short, transient and strenuous motor output typical of suction feeding. Thus, reducing the suction effort makes sense when successive strenuous head-part movements are immediately required for additional suction, buccal transport or spitting. This hypothesis was tested by in vivo electrical stimulation of muscles important in feeding: the epaxials, which lift the skull and expand the buccal cavity. Reliable stimulation variables for the epaxial muscles were determined from preliminary stimulation experiments and from electromyographic recordings of these muscles in a specimen feeding on crickets. Stimulation trains of variable duration (<150 ms) were applied in series of five trains. The intervals between trains were variable as well (<1 s). The mechanical output was measured by means of an accelerometer, a force transducer or a magnetoresistive displacement transducer. In the latter case, the time course of the mechanical output could be recorded and analysed. The hypothesis predicts a decrease in the muscular output with increasing effort (long trains) and fast repetition (short intervals). The experimental results show the expected decline in mechanical output from one stimulation train to the next when longer stimulation bursts are imposed in quick succession. Statistical analyses (multiple regression) showed that train length, train rate and train number contribute significantly to the observed variation in mechanical output, supporting the hypothesis. Explanations for the phenomena are discussed.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N. Konow, A. L. Camp, and C. P. J. Sanford Congruence between muscle activity and kinematics in a convergently derived prey-processing behavior Integr. Comp. Biol., June 9, 2008; (2008) icn045v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]