|
| |
|
|
|
|
||||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | ||||
First published online January 27, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 853-868 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00821
Swimming of larval zebrafish: ontogeny of body waves and implications for locomotory development
Wageningen University, Experimental Zoology Group, Marijkeweg 40, 6709 PG Wageningen, The Netherlands
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: ulrike.muller{at}wur.nl)
Accepted 3 December 2003
Fish larvae, like most adult fish, undulate their bodies to propel themselves. A detailed kinematic study of the larval body wave is a prerequisite to formulate a set of functional requirements that the locomotor system must fulfil to generate the observed swimming kinematics. Lateral displacement and curvature profiles were obtained for zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae at 2–21 days post-fertilisation for three swimming behaviours (cyclic swimming, slow starts and fast startle responses) using high-speed video. During cyclic swimming, fish larvae maintain tail beat frequencies of up to 100 Hz. The corresponding longitudinal strains, estimated from the peak curvatures of the midline, reach up to 0.19 in superficial tissue. The strain rate can reach 120 s–1. The wave of curvature travels along the body at a near-constant rate. Posterior to the stiff head, body-lengthspecific curvature is high and rises gently along the entire trunk to a maximum value of 6. Burst-and-coast swimming generates similar peak curvatures to cyclic swimming, but curvature rises more steeply from head to tail. Fish larvae exhibit phase shifts of 57–63° between the wave of lateral displacement and the wave of curvature, resulting in a 1:1.2 ratio of body wave length to curvature wave length. During C-starts, muscle strain can reach 0.19 and superficial longitudinal strain rates approach 30 s–1. Fish larvae do not initiate their escape response with a standing wave of curvature, although their C-starts approach a standing wave as the larvae grow older. The performance demands derived from swimming kinematics suggest that larval axial muscles have very short contraction cycles (10 ms), experience considerable strains (up to 0.2) and strain rates (up to 30 s–1 in white muscle fibres) yet are able to power swimming for several seconds.
Key words: kinematics, Danio rerio, zebrafish, body wave, swimming, larva, muscle performance
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  J. L. van Leeuwen, T. van der Meulen, H. Schipper, and S. Kranenbarg A functional analysis of myotomal muscle-fibre reorientation in developing zebrafish Danio rerio J. Exp. Biol., April 15, 2008; 211(8): 1289 - 1304. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. Fontaine, D. Lentink, S. Kranenbarg, U. K. Muller, J. L. van Leeuwen, A. H. Barr, and J. W. Burdick Automated visual tracking for studying the ontogeny of zebrafish swimming J. Exp. Biol., April 15, 2008; 211(8): 1305 - 1316. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
U. K. Muller, J. G. M. van den Boogaart, and J. L. van Leeuwen Flow patterns of larval fish: undulatory swimming in the intermediate flow regime J. Exp. Biol., January 15, 2008; 211(2): 196 - 205. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. P. Gabriel, R. Mahmood, A. M. Walter, A. Kyriakatos, G. Hauptmann, R. L. Calabrese, and A. El Manira Locomotor Pattern in the Adult Zebrafish Spinal Cord In Vitro J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2008; 99(1): 37 - 48. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
H. A. Burgess and M. Granato Modulation of locomotor activity in larval zebrafish during light adaptation J. Exp. Biol., July 15, 2007; 210(14): 2526 - 2539. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Nishikawa, A. A. Biewener, P. Aerts, A. N. Ahn, H. J. Chiel, M. A. Daley, T. L. Daniel, R. J. Full, M. E. Hale, T. L. Hedrick, et al. Neuromechanics: an integrative approach for understanding motor control Integr. Comp. Biol., July 1, 2007; 47(1): 16 - 54. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. E. Hale, R. D. Day, D. H. Thorsen, and M. W. Westneat Pectoral fin coordination and gait transitions in steadily swimming juvenile reef fishes J. Exp. Biol., October 1, 2006; 209(19): 3708 - 3718. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 V. M. Luna and P. Brehm An Electrically Coupled Network of Skeletal Muscle in Zebrafish Distributes Synaptic Current J. Gen. Physiol., June 26, 2006; 128(1): 89 - 102. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Bejan and J. H. Marden Unifying constructal theory for scale effects in running, swimming and flying J. Exp. Biol., January 15, 2006; 209(2): 238 - 248. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. J. McHenry and G. V. Lauder The mechanical scaling of coasting in zebrafish (Danio rerio) J. Exp. Biol., June 15, 2005; 208(12): 2289 - 2301. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. A. Masino and J. R. Fetcho Fictive Swimming Motor Patterns in Wild Type and Mutant Larval Zebrafish J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2005; 93(6): 3177 - 3188. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. H. Thorsen, J. J. Cassidy, and M. E. Hale Swimming of larval zebrafish: fin-axis coordination and implications for function and neural control J. Exp. Biol., November 15, 2004; 207(24): 4175 - 4183. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
