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Fast muscle function in the European eel (Anguilla anguilla L.) during aquatic and terrestrial locomotion

D. J. Ellerby^1,*, I. L. Y. Spierts² and J. D. Altringham¹

¹ School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK and
² Experimental Zoology Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

View larger version (20K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Mean power output of eel fast muscle versus cycle frequency under optimal stimulus conditions and a strain of ±5%. Values are means ± S.E.M. (N=6). Optimal stimulus at a given frequency is shown as onset/duty cycle in degrees. Stimulus onset was measured relative to a 360° sinusoidal strain cycle. At 0°/360°, the preparation was at l0 and lengthening, where l0 is the preparation length that yielded maximum isometric stress. Data from 0.45BL are shown as filled circles with a solid line, data from 0.75BL are shown as open circles with a dashed line. BL, total body length.

View larger version (24K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Mean power output of eel fast muscle versus cycle frequency under approximated in vivo stimulus conditions and a strain of ±5%. Values are means ± S.E.M. (N=6). Filled symbols represent data from muscle at 0.45BL, and open symbols represent data from muscle at 0.75BL. Squares represent data obtained using approximated terrestrial stimulus parameters, and circles represent data obtained using approximated aquatic stimulus parameters. Stimulus parameters were obtained from Gillis (Gillis, 2000). BL, total body length.

View larger version (28K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Representative work loops obtained using in vivo stimulus parameters measured by Gillis (Gillis, 2000). The thickened regions of the loops show when the muscle preparation was activated. All loops were obtained at a cycle frequency of 1Hz. Mean work outputs (N=6) are shown within each loop. BL, total body length.

View larger version (22K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Representative traces showing fast muscle stress during a single sinusoidal strain cycle (strain ±5%). Solid lines represent stress during simulated swimming, and dashed lines represent stress during simulated crawling. Black traces show stress in preparations from 0.45BL and red traces show stress in preparations from 0.75BL. The dotted line represents muscle length. BL, total body length.

View larger version (21K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Representative traces showing relative instantaneous fast muscle power output during a single sinusoidal strain cycle (strain ±5%). Solid lines represent instantaneous power output during simulated swimming, and dashed lines represent instantaneous power output during simulated crawling. Black traces show stress in preparations from 0.45BL and red traces show stress in preparations from 0.75BL. The dotted line represents muscle length. BL, total body length. Power outputs are scaled relative to peak instantaneous power at 0.75BL under simulated swimming conditions.