Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-2525, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2010 Sep 15;213(Pt 18):3131-7. doi: 10.1242/jeb.045518.
Fish use the lateral line system to sense the water flow created by a predator's strike. Despite its potential importance to the survival of a diversity of species, it is unclear whether this ability becomes compromised when a fish swims. Therefore, the present study compared the behavioral responsiveness of swimming and motionless zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae when exposed to the flow of a suction-feeding predator. This flow was generated with an impulse chamber, which is a device that we developed to generate a repeatable stimulus with a computer-controlled servo motor. Using high-speed video recordings, we found that about three-quarters (0.76, N=121) of motionless larvae responded to the stimulus with an escape response. These larvae were 66% more likely to respond to flow directed perpendicular than flow running parallel to the body. Swimming larvae exhibited a 0.40 response probability and were therefore nearly half as likely to respond to flow as motionless larvae. However, the latency between stimulus and response was unaffected by swimming or the direction of flow. Therefore, swimming creates changes in the hydrodynamics or neurophysiology of a larval fish that diminish the probability, but not the speed, of their response to a flow stimulus. These findings demonstrate a sensory benefit to the intermittent swimming behavior observed among a broad diversity of fishes.
鱼类利用侧线系统感知捕食者攻击产生的水流。尽管这种能力对多种物种的生存至关重要，但目前尚不清楚鱼类在游泳时这种能力是否会受到影响。因此，本研究比较了游泳和静止的斑马鱼（Danio rerio）幼虫在暴露于吸吮式捕食者的水流时的行为反应。这种流动是用脉冲室产生的，脉冲室是我们开发的一种设备，可以用计算机控制的伺服电机产生可重复的刺激。使用高速视频记录，我们发现大约四分之三（0.76，N=121）的静止幼虫对刺激做出了逃避反应。这些幼虫对垂直于身体的流动做出反应的可能性比平行于身体的流动高 66%。游泳的幼虫表现出 0.40 的反应概率，因此对流动的反应可能性几乎是静止幼虫的一半。然而，游泳或流动方向并没有影响刺激和反应之间的潜伏期。因此，游泳会改变幼鱼的水动力或神经生理学，从而降低其对流动刺激的反应概率，但不会降低其反应速度。这些发现表明，在广泛的鱼类中观察到的间歇性游泳行为具有一种感官优势。
