Fast-starting for a breath: Air breathing in Hoplosternum littorale

John Fleng Steffensen

Fast-starting for a breath: Air breathing in Hoplosternum littorale

Marine Biology

Abstract

Soc for experimental Biol Annual Meeting - Salzburg 2012

Paolo Domenici (CNR IAMC, Italy), Tommy Norin (Arhus University,
Denmark), Peter G. Bushnell (I ndiana University South Bend, Indiana,
USA), Jacob Johansen (James Cook University, Australia), Peter
Skov (DTU Aqua, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark), John F.
Steffensen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Morten Svendsen
(Technical University of Denmark, Denmark) and Augusto Abe
(Unlversidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil)

Fast starts are brief accelerations commonly observed in fish within the
context of predator-prey interactions. In typical C-start escape responses.
fish react to a threatening stimulus by bending their body into a C-shape.
Recently, similar C-starts have been recorded in archerfish stimulated by
the fall of a prey item on the water surface, and in tapping motions of
goldfish, a behaviour that was interpreted to be food-related.
Little is known about C-starts being used outside the context of
escaping or feeding. Here, we test the hypothesis that air-breathing
fish may use C-starts when gulping air at the surface. Air breathing is
a common behaviour in many fish species when exposed to hypoxia,
although certain species perform air-breathing in normoxia to fill their
swim bladders for buoyancy control and/or sound transduction.
Hoplos/emum littorale is an air-breathing freshwater catfish found in
South America. Field video observations reveal that their air-breathing
behaviour consists of a fast air-gulping motion at the surface, followed by
swimming towards the bottom. Using high-speed video in the laboratory,
we compared the kinematics of spontaneous air-gulping performed by
H. littorale in normoxia. with those of mechanically-triggered C-start
escape responses. Our results show that these two behaviours overlap
considerably in their kinematics (turning rates and distance covered),
suggesting that air breathing in this species is performed using escapelike
C-start motions. This demonstrates that C-starts in fish do not need
external stimulation and can be spontaneous behaviours used outside the
context of predator-prey interactions.
Email addressforcorrespondence:[email protected]

Original language	English
Publication date	2012
Number of pages	1
Publication status	Published - 2012

Cite this

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title = "Fast-starting for a breath: Air breathing in Hoplosternum littorale",

abstract = "Soc for experimental Biol Annual Meeting - Salzburg 2012Paolo Domenici (CNR IAMC, Italy), Tommy Norin (Arhus University,Denmark), Peter G. Bushnell (I ndiana University South Bend, Indiana,USA), Jacob Johansen (James Cook University, Australia), PeterSkov (DTU Aqua, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark), John F.Steffensen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Morten Svendsen(Technical University of Denmark, Denmark) and Augusto Abe(Unlversidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil)Fast starts are brief accelerations commonly observed in fish within thecontext of predator-prey interactions. In typical C-start escape responses.fish react to a threatening stimulus by bending their body into a C-shape.Recently, similar C-starts have been recorded in archerfish stimulated bythe fall of a prey item on the water surface, and in tapping motions ofgoldfish, a behaviour that was interpreted to be food-related.Little is known about C-starts being used outside the context ofescaping or feeding. Here, we test the hypothesis that air-breathingfish may use C-starts when gulping air at the surface. Air breathing isa common behaviour in many fish species when exposed to hypoxia,although certain species perform air-breathing in normoxia to fill theirswim bladders for buoyancy control and/or sound transduction.Hoplos/emum littorale is an air-breathing freshwater catfish found inSouth America. Field video observations reveal that their air-breathingbehaviour consists of a fast air-gulping motion at the surface, followed byswimming towards the bottom. Using high-speed video in the laboratory,we compared the kinematics of spontaneous air-gulping performed byH. littorale in normoxia. with those of mechanically-triggered C-startescape responses. Our results show that these two behaviours overlapconsiderably in their kinematics (turning rates and distance covered),suggesting that air breathing in this species is performed using escapelikeC-start motions. This demonstrates that C-starts in fish do not needexternal stimulation and can be spontaneous behaviours used outside thecontext of predator-prey interactions.Email addressforcorrespondence:[email protected]",

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N2 - Soc for experimental Biol Annual Meeting - Salzburg 2012Paolo Domenici (CNR IAMC, Italy), Tommy Norin (Arhus University,Denmark), Peter G. Bushnell (I ndiana University South Bend, Indiana,USA), Jacob Johansen (James Cook University, Australia), PeterSkov (DTU Aqua, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark), John F.Steffensen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Morten Svendsen(Technical University of Denmark, Denmark) and Augusto Abe(Unlversidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil)Fast starts are brief accelerations commonly observed in fish within thecontext of predator-prey interactions. In typical C-start escape responses.fish react to a threatening stimulus by bending their body into a C-shape.Recently, similar C-starts have been recorded in archerfish stimulated bythe fall of a prey item on the water surface, and in tapping motions ofgoldfish, a behaviour that was interpreted to be food-related.Little is known about C-starts being used outside the context ofescaping or feeding. Here, we test the hypothesis that air-breathingfish may use C-starts when gulping air at the surface. Air breathing isa common behaviour in many fish species when exposed to hypoxia,although certain species perform air-breathing in normoxia to fill theirswim bladders for buoyancy control and/or sound transduction.Hoplos/emum littorale is an air-breathing freshwater catfish found inSouth America. Field video observations reveal that their air-breathingbehaviour consists of a fast air-gulping motion at the surface, followed byswimming towards the bottom. Using high-speed video in the laboratory,we compared the kinematics of spontaneous air-gulping performed byH. littorale in normoxia. with those of mechanically-triggered C-startescape responses. Our results show that these two behaviours overlapconsiderably in their kinematics (turning rates and distance covered),suggesting that air breathing in this species is performed using escapelikeC-start motions. This demonstrates that C-starts in fish do not needexternal stimulation and can be spontaneous behaviours used outside thecontext of predator-prey interactions.Email addressforcorrespondence:[email protected]

AB - Soc for experimental Biol Annual Meeting - Salzburg 2012Paolo Domenici (CNR IAMC, Italy), Tommy Norin (Arhus University,Denmark), Peter G. Bushnell (I ndiana University South Bend, Indiana,USA), Jacob Johansen (James Cook University, Australia), PeterSkov (DTU Aqua, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark), John F.Steffensen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Morten Svendsen(Technical University of Denmark, Denmark) and Augusto Abe(Unlversidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil)Fast starts are brief accelerations commonly observed in fish within thecontext of predator-prey interactions. In typical C-start escape responses.fish react to a threatening stimulus by bending their body into a C-shape.Recently, similar C-starts have been recorded in archerfish stimulated bythe fall of a prey item on the water surface, and in tapping motions ofgoldfish, a behaviour that was interpreted to be food-related.Little is known about C-starts being used outside the context ofescaping or feeding. Here, we test the hypothesis that air-breathingfish may use C-starts when gulping air at the surface. Air breathing isa common behaviour in many fish species when exposed to hypoxia,although certain species perform air-breathing in normoxia to fill theirswim bladders for buoyancy control and/or sound transduction.Hoplos/emum littorale is an air-breathing freshwater catfish found inSouth America. Field video observations reveal that their air-breathingbehaviour consists of a fast air-gulping motion at the surface, followed byswimming towards the bottom. Using high-speed video in the laboratory,we compared the kinematics of spontaneous air-gulping performed byH. littorale in normoxia. with those of mechanically-triggered C-startescape responses. Our results show that these two behaviours overlapconsiderably in their kinematics (turning rates and distance covered),suggesting that air breathing in this species is performed using escapelikeC-start motions. This demonstrates that C-starts in fish do not needexternal stimulation and can be spontaneous behaviours used outside thecontext of predator-prey interactions.Email addressforcorrespondence:[email protected]

M3 - Conference abstract for conference

ER -