Document Detail


Optimal movement in the prey strikes of weakly electric fish: a case study of the interplay of body plan and movement capability.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  18842574     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Animal behaviour arises through a complex mixture of biomechanical, neuronal, sensory and control constraints. By focusing on a simple, stereotyped movement, the prey capture strike of a weakly electric fish, we show that the trajectory of a strike is one which minimizes effort. Specifically, we model the fish as a rigid ellipsoid moving through a fluid with no viscosity, governed by Kirchhoff's equations. This formulation allows us to exploit methods of discrete mechanics and optimal control to compute idealized fish trajectories that minimize a cost function. We compare these with the measured prey capture strikes of weakly electric fish from a previous study. The fish has certain movement limitations that are not incorporated in the mathematical model, such as not being able to move sideways. Nonetheless, we show quantitatively that the computed least-cost trajectories are remarkably similar to the measured trajectories. Since, in this simplified model, the basic geometry of the idealized fish determines the favourable modes of movement, this suggests a high degree of influence between body shape and movement capability. Simplified minimal models and optimization methods can give significant insight into how body morphology and movement capability are closely attuned in fish locomotion.
Authors:
Claire M Postlethwaite; Tiffany M Psemeneki; Jangir Selimkhanov; Mary Silber; Malcolm A MacIver
Related Documents :
16023384 - On-axis and off-axis viewing of images on crt displays and lcds: observer performance a...
20697734 - Modeling discrete and rhythmic movements through motor primitives: a review.
21096044 - Model-based inference of cognitive processes from unobtrusive gait velocity measurements.
16485744 - Reported anatomical variability naturally leads to multimodal distributions of denavit-...
19233894 - Micropred: effective classification of pre-mirnas for human mirna gene prediction.
10563464 - Modelling the interactions between lactobacillus curvatus and enterobacter cloacae. ii....
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.     Date:  2008-10-08
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of the Royal Society, Interface / the Royal Society     Volume:  6     ISSN:  1742-5689     ISO Abbreviation:  J R Soc Interface     Publication Date:  2009 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-03-27     Completed Date:  2009-06-12     Revised Date:  2010-09-21    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101217269     Medline TA:  J R Soc Interface     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  417-33     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, R. R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Animals
Biomechanics
Gymnotiformes / anatomy & histology,  physiology*
Locomotion / physiology*
Models, Anatomic
Motion Perception / physiology
Predatory Behavior / physiology*
Swimming
Comments/Corrections

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Learning decreases heterospecific courtship and mating in fruit flies.
Next Document:  Toluene and P-xylene mixture exerts antagonistic effect on lipid peroxidation in vitro.