Meeting Abstract

P1-177  Saturday, Jan. 4  Serotonin induces female swimming behavior in sexually dimorphic ostracod crustaceans AHMADYAR, S*; TRAN, T; RIVERA, AS; University of the Pacific; University of the Pacific; University of the Pacific arivera@pacific.edu

Male and female Euphilomedes ostracod crustaceans exhibit extreme dimorphism in their sensory systems and behavior. Here, we examine the role of serotonin in a sex-specific behavior. Male Euphilomedes spend about 90 minutes per night swimming in the water column, guided by their large compound eyes. Female Euphilomedes, on the other hand, lack compound eyes entirely and spend the majority of their time buried in the sand. They are only known to swim when disturbed. While the morphological difference between males and females is regulated at the developmental level, the locus of the behavioral difference is unknown. That is, it is not clear whether the swimming behavior arises from male-specific neuronal architecture or from male-specific activation of monomorphic circuits. Because serotonin is known to increase male-specific behaviors in other crustaceans we treated females with serotonin, which induced male-like swimming behavior. This suggests that both males and females have neuronal circuitry for spontaneous swimming behavior. Whether this is an example of females exhibiting male behavior, or represents a rare undescribed female behavior is unclear.