Behaviour and muscle activity across the aquatic-terrestrial transition in Polypterus senegalus.

ABSTRACT: Amphibious fishes moving from water to land experience continuous changes in environmental forces. How these subtle changes impact behavioural transitions cannot be resolved by comparisons of aquatic and terrestrial locomotion. For example, aquatic and terrestrial locomotion appear distinct in the actinopterygian fish Polypterus senegalus; however, it is unclear how gradual water level changes influence the transition between these locomotor behaviours. We tested the hypothesis in P. senegalus that swimming and walking are part of an incremental continuum of behaviour and muscle activity across the environmental transition from water to land rather than two discrete behaviours, as proposed by previous literature. We exposed P. senegalus to discrete environments from fully aquatic to fully

SUBMITTER: Lutek K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9789406 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature