Meeting Abstract
Multiple groups of fish have evolved burial behavior, and there are a range of biomechanical mechanisms that enable differently shaped fishes to bury into the substrate. We examined fishes currently classified as Zoarcoids, suborder Zoarcoidei, a group that includes several elongate families of fish, including the Zoarcidae (eelpouts), Pholidae (gunnels), Anarhichadidae (wolffishes), and Steicheidae (pricklebacks). These fishes often live in near-shore or intertidal regions where they navigate complex environments, populated by seagrasses and rocks. Some species within Stichaeidae and the closely-related Pholidae are known to remain above the water line during low tides, where they remain hidden beneath rocks and gravel, while other Stichaeid and Pholid species remain in subtidal zone and do not naturally bury. To observe and quantify burial behavior in these elongate fishes, we collected individuals representing five species found in the Salish Sea (San Juan Island, Washington), performed a behavioral analysis, and compared burial biomechanics among different species. We documented disparities in burial tendencies, which suggests that while some fishes that are reluctant to bury into the substrate may lack the ability to bury because of some as-yet-unidentified aspect of their morphology, other fishes are biomechanically capable of burial but are not behaviorally inclined towards burial which may suggest a relatively recent behavioral shift in habitat preferences. We found that elongate fishes can bury themselves using a variety of behavioral processes, two of which have not previously been described in fish. We also note that, although elongate fish burial-behavior shares similarities with both terrestrial and aquatic locomotion, it possesses features which are not present in either and represents a unique mode of locomotion in elongate fishes.
