Intracellular recordings from the swim musculature of the pteropod mollusc Clione limacina revealed two types of activity during spontaneous swimming movements. One group of muscle cells produced either excitatory junctional potentials (EJPs) or spike-like responses during both slow and fast swimming. The second group of muscle cells were either silent or produced extremely small EJPs during slow swimming, and EJPs or spike-like responses during fast swimming. Injections of horseradish peroxidase (HEP) into the two types of muscle cells indicated that the former are slow-twitch fibers while the latter are fast-twitch fibers. A comparison of the two muscle cell types indicated that the slow-twitch fibers are larger and have less negative resting potentials than the fast-twitch cells. Electrical coupling was detected between pairs of slow-twitch cells, but could not be demonstrated between pairs of fast-twitch cells or between mixed pairs of cells. Spike-like responses in both cell types exhibited non-synaptic facilitation in response to direct depolarizing stimulation. Both the maximum size and the initial rate of facilitation were frequency-dependent. Spike-like responses were followed by a depolarizing afterpotential that apparently summed to produce a baseline depolarization that may be involved in non-synaptic facilitation.
2023 JEB Outstanding Paper Prize shortlist and winner
The JEB Editors are delighted to announce the shortlisted authors for the 2023 JEB Outstanding Paper Prize. Read the winning paper - Tiny spies: mosquito antennae are sensitive sensors for eavesdropping on frog calls - by Hoover Pantoja-Sanchez and Brian Leavell from Ximena Bernal's lab at Purdue University, USA.
JEB Science Communication Workshop for ECRs
If you’re an early-career researcher interested in science communication and are attending the SEB Annual Conference in Prague this summer, come a day early and join the JEB Editors at a sci comm workshop to learn the key writing skills needed to promote your research to a broad audience beyond your peers (1 July at 14.30-17.30). Places are limited to 24 attendees, and applicants should apply through the SEB registration page by 30 April 2024.
Bridging the gap between controlled conditions and natural habitats in understanding behaviour
Novel technologies enable behavioural experiments with non-model species, in naturalistic habitats and with underexplored behaviours. In their Commentary, Scholz and colleagues discuss how to obtain a deeper understanding of the natural ecology and lifestyle of study animals.
Beluga metabolic measures could help save species
To help save animals from extinction, it’s important to understand what each species needs to survive. This led Jason John et al. to measure the metabolic rates of captive belugas to develop a ‘fish calculator’ showing that the whales need to eat ~23 salmon per day.
ECR Workshop on Positive Peer Review
Are you an ECR looking for tips on how to write concise, astute and useful manuscript reviews? If so, join the JEB Editors at a 2-hour JEB-sponsored Workshop on Positive Peer Review at the Canadian Society of Zoologists annual meeting in Moncton on 9 May 2024 at 13.00-15.00. There are 25 spaces for ECRs and selection is first come, first serve. To sign up, check the ECR Workshop box when you register for the CSZ meeting.
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