Meeting Abstract

P2.163  Tuesday, Jan. 5  Effects of prey capture on escape responses of the silverspotted sculpin (Blepsias cirrhosus) BOHóRQUEZ-HERRERA, J.; KAWANO, S.M.*; DOMENICI, P.; Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional; Clemson University; CNR-IAMC skawano@clemson.edu

Predator evasion and feeding are both fundamental for the survival of organisms. Although a number of studies have assessed how these two activities interact and influence the overall behavior of organisms, little is know about the effect of feeding on escape performance in terms of the kinematics and the timing of the response. The present study investigated how engaging in feeding activities affected escape responses by comparing fast-start escape responses of silverspotted sculpins (Blepsias cirrhosus) elicited in three conditions: (1) a control (no feeding involved), (2) during chasing of a prey, and (3) immediately after prey capture. Non-locomotory and locomotory variables were analyzed from high-speed videos (250 fps) using automated data analysis routines. Responsiveness was about two times lower when individuals were stimulated immediately after capturing a prey item compared to the other two treatments and latency performance was higher in the control treatment (as indicated by lower latency values) than in the other two treatments. Directionality was not statistically different between the treatments with all three treatments showing a high proportion of responses away from the threat. Locomotory variables were not statistically different among the three groups. Our results indicate that feeding behaviors can have a negative effect on the responsiveness and latency of escape responses, suggesting that engaging in feeding behaviors may decrease an individual’s ability to successfully evade predators.