Who Needs an Energy Boost? Do Differences in Energetic Requirements to Perform a Tail-Flip Jump Cause Differences in Muscle Composition?
Location
CSU Ballroom
Start Date
12-4-2022 2:00 PM
End Date
12-4-2022 3:30 PM
Student's Major
Biological Sciences
Student's College
Science, Engineering and Technology
Mentor's Name
Michael Minicozzi
Mentor's Department
Biological Sciences
Mentor's College
Science, Engineering and Technology
Description
Fishes are generally considered to be fully aquatic, but some voluntarily strand themselves on land to escape poor water conditions, predators, or to exploit terrestrial niches. On land, many fishes move around using a tail-flip jump without apparent morphological specialization. I aimed to understand how small changes in morphology can affect the ability of a fish to perform a tailflip jump. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) pose as an excellent model to investigate this because these fish move around on land with a tail-flip jump and many varieties have been bred in the pet trade. In this experiment, I utilized wildtype and longfin zebrafish to determine if the longer fins affect the fish’s ability to move on land. I hypothesized that longfin zebrafish will not be able to sustain jumping for the same duration as wildtype zebrafish because the longer fins will make the behavior more energetically expensive. Individuals of each strain were placed in an arena composed of a hard, rough surface and a damp substrate and filmed performing a tail-flip jump. Each fish was jumped multiple times and the best jump was used for kinematic analysis. Each fish was then placed in a three-foot plastic wading pool and filmed producing voluntary jumps for three minutes and then elicited to jump continuously until exhaustion. Individuals were euthanized, weighed, and photographed to measure the area of the caudal fins. Following this, each fish was fixed in formalin, embedded in wax, sectioned, stained, and analyzed for their relative proportions of red and white muscle. Differences in the two strains led to several differences in the voluntary and elicited jump trials, but not the individual jumps. These data imply that fin morphology may not have a large impact on single jump performances but may have an impact on sustainable jumping ability.
Who Needs an Energy Boost? Do Differences in Energetic Requirements to Perform a Tail-Flip Jump Cause Differences in Muscle Composition?
CSU Ballroom
Fishes are generally considered to be fully aquatic, but some voluntarily strand themselves on land to escape poor water conditions, predators, or to exploit terrestrial niches. On land, many fishes move around using a tail-flip jump without apparent morphological specialization. I aimed to understand how small changes in morphology can affect the ability of a fish to perform a tailflip jump. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) pose as an excellent model to investigate this because these fish move around on land with a tail-flip jump and many varieties have been bred in the pet trade. In this experiment, I utilized wildtype and longfin zebrafish to determine if the longer fins affect the fish’s ability to move on land. I hypothesized that longfin zebrafish will not be able to sustain jumping for the same duration as wildtype zebrafish because the longer fins will make the behavior more energetically expensive. Individuals of each strain were placed in an arena composed of a hard, rough surface and a damp substrate and filmed performing a tail-flip jump. Each fish was jumped multiple times and the best jump was used for kinematic analysis. Each fish was then placed in a three-foot plastic wading pool and filmed producing voluntary jumps for three minutes and then elicited to jump continuously until exhaustion. Individuals were euthanized, weighed, and photographed to measure the area of the caudal fins. Following this, each fish was fixed in formalin, embedded in wax, sectioned, stained, and analyzed for their relative proportions of red and white muscle. Differences in the two strains led to several differences in the voluntary and elicited jump trials, but not the individual jumps. These data imply that fin morphology may not have a large impact on single jump performances but may have an impact on sustainable jumping ability.
Recommended Citation
Reed, Makenzie. "Who Needs an Energy Boost? Do Differences in Energetic Requirements to Perform a Tail-Flip Jump Cause Differences in Muscle Composition?." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 12, 2022.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2022/poster-session-02/10
