Meeting Abstract

P1.103  Tuesday, Jan. 4  A New Movement Pattern Produces Terrestrial Jumping in Fully-Aquatic Fishes HURBON, A.N.*; GIBB, A.C.; Northern Arizona University; Northern Arizona University anh82@nau.edu

Until recently, it has been thought that fully-aquatic fish cannot move effectively when stranded on land. However, some small, fusiform-shaped teleost species can produce a coordinated “jump” when stranded on land. This jump appears similar to an aquatic escape response, or C-start, in that it consists of a preparatory phase (C-shaped axial bending) followed by a propulsive phase (axial straightening). This raises the question: does the terrestrial jump appear to be the result of a C-start behavior that is performed on land? Using high-speed video, we examined Gambusia affinis, mosquitofish, and Zebra danio, zebrafish, performing C-starts in water in response to a negative stimulus and jumping in response to involuntary stranding (n=5 individuals for each species in each environment). With a two-way ANOVA, we compared movements during aquatic and terrestrial behaviors in both species to determine if kinematics were different on land versus in the water. For both species, it takes longer for a fish to complete the preparatory phase on land, when compared to water. In addition, in water, the preparatory phase and propulsive phases are almost equal in duration, whereas on land the preparatory phase is three times longer than the propulsive phase. When on land, fish undergo greater axial bending, relative to when in water. Although further studies examining the axial muscle activity pattern are necessary to confirm this finding, these kinematic results suggest that the terrestrial jump is a new behavior that is generated via a new neural pattern.