Meeting Abstract
Swimming is a key component of many fundamental behaviors of fishes, including predator escape and prey capture. Research on swimming kinematics and performance has focused on the adult stage; however, swimming and associated behaviors are critical for survival throughout post-hatching ontogeny. High performance of some kinematic parameters may be particularly important at earlier life history stages as differences in size and maturation, and associated fluid dynamics may require alternative movement strategies. A distinctive time in the ontogeny of fishes is the transition from dependence on yolk sac nutrients to exogenous feeding. Exogenous feeding necessitates increased search and capture swimming, increased predation risks, and possibly greater need for high performance escape. A second transition that occurs during post-hatching ontogeny of many species is a switch from cutaneous to gill-based respiration, which fundamentally changes behavioral functions of the pectoral fins. As the need to use fin beats for fluid mixing and respiration ends, the pectoral fins become incorporated into locomotor behaviors and fin morphology and movements change. Here we discuss swimming and its morphological and physiological underpinnings across feeding and respiratory transitions with a focus on performance change through life history. A key, often overlooked, factor in swim performance is the neural control of movement, which includes both motor output and sensory modulation. During early life history both motor and sensory systems change dramatically, but not necessarily in lockstep. Understanding how the early organization and development of these systems impact movement provides key insight for interpreting kinematic patterns and performance differences across organisms.
