Journal Article
Evolution of left–right asymmetry in the sensory system and foraging behavior during adaptation to food‑sparse cave environments
Fernandes, V.F.L., Glaser, Y., Iwashita, M. and Yoshizawa, M.
Record Number:
6043
Year:
2022
Journal:
BMC Biology
Volume:
20.295
Notes:
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit and the source
Abstract:
Background: Laterality in relation to behavior and sensory systems is found commonly in a variety of animal taxa.
Despite the advantages conferred by laterality (e.g., the startle response and complex motor activities), little is known
about the evolution of laterality and its plasticity in response to ecological demands. In the present study, a comparative
study model, the Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus), composed of two morphotypes, i.e., riverine surface fish
and cave-dwelling cavefish, was used to address the relationship between environment and laterality.
Results: The use of a machine learning-based fish posture detection system and sensory ablation revealed that the
left cranial lateral line significantly supports one type of foraging behavior, i.e., vibration attraction behavior, in one
cave population. Additionally, left–right asymmetric approaches toward a vibrating rod became symmetrical after
fasting in one cave population but not in the other populations.
Conclusion: Based on these findings, we propose a model explaining how the observed sensory laterality and
behavioral shift could help adaptation in terms of the tradeoff in energy gain and loss during foraging according to
differences in food availability among caves.
Keywords: Laterality, VAB, Foraging behavior, Lateral line, Evolution, Cavefish
Times Cited:
1
Relevent Species: