SATTERLIE, R.*; SZYMIK, B.; University of North Carolina Wilmington; Arizona State University: Changing Locomotory Speed in a Mollusk: From Neurons to Mechanics

The change from slow to fast swimming in the pteropod mollusk Clione limacina has been described at the circuit and cellular levels. Thus far, we can relate neuronal activity to increases in locomotor system cycle frequency and appendage muscle force both for increases in muscular force within slow swimming and in the change from slow to fast swimming. We are coupling our electrophysiological analyses with kinematic analyses of wing movements for slow and fast swimming, and with new investigations into mechanisms of modifying wing stiffness, to provide a bridge between neuronal and mechanical aspects of locomotory speed changes.