{"title":"Correlation between bioluminescent blinks and swimming behavior in the splitfin flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron","authors":"Peter Jägers, Timo Frischmuth, Stefan Herlitze","doi":"10.1186/s12862-024-02283-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The light organs of the splitfin flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron are necessary for schooling behavior, to determine nearest neighbor distance, and to feed on zooplankton under dim light conditions. Each behavior is coupled to context-dependent blink frequencies and can be regulated via mechanical occlusion of light organs. During shoaling in the laboratory individuals show moderate blink frequencies around 100 blinks per minute. In this study, we correlated bioluminescent blinks with the spatio-temporal dynamics of swimming profiles in three dimensions, using a stereoscopic, infrared camera system. Groups of flashlight fish showed intermediate levels of polarization and distances to the group centroid. Individuals showed higher swimming speeds and curved swimming profiles during light organ occlusion. The largest changes in swimming direction occurred when darkening the light organs. Before A. katoptron exposed light organs again, they adapted a nearly straight movement direction. We conclude that a change in movement direction coupled to light organ occlusion in A. katoptron is an important behavioral trait in shoaling of flashlight fish.","PeriodicalId":9111,"journal":{"name":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02283-6","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"Agricultural and Biological Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The light organs of the splitfin flashlight fish Anomalops katoptron are necessary for schooling behavior, to determine nearest neighbor distance, and to feed on zooplankton under dim light conditions. Each behavior is coupled to context-dependent blink frequencies and can be regulated via mechanical occlusion of light organs. During shoaling in the laboratory individuals show moderate blink frequencies around 100 blinks per minute. In this study, we correlated bioluminescent blinks with the spatio-temporal dynamics of swimming profiles in three dimensions, using a stereoscopic, infrared camera system. Groups of flashlight fish showed intermediate levels of polarization and distances to the group centroid. Individuals showed higher swimming speeds and curved swimming profiles during light organ occlusion. The largest changes in swimming direction occurred when darkening the light organs. Before A. katoptron exposed light organs again, they adapted a nearly straight movement direction. We conclude that a change in movement direction coupled to light organ occlusion in A. katoptron is an important behavioral trait in shoaling of flashlight fish.
期刊介绍:
BMC Evolutionary Biology is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of molecular and non-molecular evolution of all organisms, as well as phylogenetics and palaeontology.