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First published online November 30, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 4265-4271 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.009498

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Mechanical and energetic factors underlying gait transitions in bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus)

Jennifer L. Kendall, Kaitlyn S. Lucey, Emily A. Jones, Jasmine Wang and David J. Ellerby^*

Department of Biological Sciences, Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: dellerby{at}wellesley.edu)

Accepted 23 September 2007

As their swimming speed increased, bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) switched from pectoral-fin-powered labriform swimming to undulations of the body axis. This gait transition occurred at a mean swimming speed of 0.24±0.01 m s^–1 and a pectoral fin beat frequency of 2.79±0.11 Hz (mean ± s.e.m., N=6). The power output available from the main upstroke (adductor profundus) and downstroke (abductor superficialis) muscles, measured using the work-loop technique was maximal at the gait transition point. The cost of transport, measured by respirometry, increased as the fish switched from labriform to undulatory swimming. Our data show that bluegill changed gait as swimming speed increased to recruit additional muscle mass, rather than to maximize economy, as is the case for many terrestrial animals.

Key words: swimming, power, metabolic rate, cost of transport

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