Unilateral Ciliary Reversal and Motor Responses During Prey Capture by the Ctenophore Pleurobrachia
Abstract
High-speed cinematography of feeding Pleurobrachia revealed a stereo-typed sequence of ciliary motor responses underlying the feeding behaviour of this ctenophore. Prey capture by a tentacle first elicited high frequency beating in all comb rows, propelling the animal forward at a rapid speed for several seconds. This was followed by a brief period of inactivity on some or all comb rows. Then comb rows adjacent to the catching tentacle beat in the reverse direction, causing the ctenophore to spin rapidly toward this side and sweeping the prey-catching tentacle to the opened mouth, which bent towards it. After engulfing the prey, the animal slowly swam forward to re-set the relaxed tentacles as a fishing net. The patterns, timing, onset and coordination of these ciliary responses, particularly the unilateral reversal of comb rows on the catching side, are analysed with respect to possible conducting pathways mediating this behaviour.
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Ctenophores usually maintain a default ciliary motion pattern but reverse it upon touching prey.
“Similarly, ctenophores generally maintain a default pattern of ciliary motion but reverse this motion when they touch prey [29].”
From An option space for early neural evolution (2015) · cites this paper as [29]
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- Authors
- Tamm, S. L., & Moss, A. G.
- Affiliations
- Boston University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- Publisher
- The Company of Biologists
- Published
- 1985-01-01
- Volume
- 114
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 443-461
- ISSN
- 0022-0949 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-9145
- OpenAlex
- W2344952253
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 3.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM 27903)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine Biology and Ecology Research
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Echinoderm biology and ecology
- Keywords
- ctenophores, prey capture, ciliary reversal, feeding behaviour, tentacles, swimming, ciliary coordination
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Appetitive Behavior, Cilia, Motion Pictures, Plankton, Predatory Behavior
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