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

First published online December 16, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 116-125 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
doi: 10.1242/jeb.023929

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JEB 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 Van Wassenbergh, S. Articles by Aerts, P. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Van Wassenbergh, S. Articles by Aerts, P. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Kinematics of benthic suction feeding in Callichthyidae and Mochokidae, with functional implications for the evolution of food scraping in catfishes

Sam Van Wassenbergh^1,*, Tim Lieben¹, Anthony Herrel², Frank Huysentruyt³, Tom Geerinckx³, Dominique Adriaens³ and Peter Aerts^1,4

¹ Department of Biology, Universiteit Antwerpen, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Antwerpen, Belgium
² Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
³ Evolutionary Morphology of Vertebrates, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
⁴ Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: sam.vanwassenbergh{at}ua.ac.be)

Accepted 3 November 2008

Food scraping has independently evolved twice from suction feeding in the evolution of catfishes: within neotropical Loricarioidea and paleotropical Mochokidae. To gain insight in the evolutionary transitions associated with the evolution towards scraping, we analyzed prey capture kinematics in two species of benthic suction feeders which belong to taxa that are closely related to the scraper lineages (respectively, Corydoras splendens and Synodontis multipunctatus), and compared it to prey capture in a more distantly related, generalist suction feeder (Clarias gariepinus). Simultaneous ventral and lateral view high-speed videos were recorded to quantify the movements of the lower jaw, hyoid, pectoral girdle and neurocranium. Additionally, ellipse modeling was applied to relate head shape differences to buccal expansion kinematics. Similarly to what has been observed in scrapers, rotations of the neurocranium are minimal in the benthic suction feeders, and may consequently have facilitated the evolution of a scraping feeding mechanism. The hypothesis that fish with a more laterally compressed head rely more heavily on lateral expansion of the buccal cavity to generate suction, was confirmed in our sample of catfish species. Since an important contribution of lateral expansion of the head to suction may avoid the need for a strong, ventral depression of the mouth floor during feeding, we hypothesized that this may have allowed a closer association with the substrate in the ancestors of scrapers. However, our hypothesis was not supported by an ancestral state reconstruction, which suggests that scraping probably evolved from sub-terminal mouthed ancestors with dorsoventrally flattened heads.

Key words: catfish, feeding, prey capture, buccal expansion, suction, hyoid

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in JEB:

WHAT TURNS A SLURPER INTO A SCRAPER?

Kathryn Knight
JEB 2009 212: iii. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Knight WHAT TURNS A SLURPER INTO A SCRAPER? J. Exp. Biol., January 1, 2009; 212(1): iii - iii. [Full Text] [PDF]