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Six-legged walking by a bottom-dwelling fish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2000

Sabine Renous
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Anatomy, URA 1137, Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, F-75005 Paris, France
Jean-Pierre Gasc
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Anatomy, URA 1137, Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, F-75005 Paris, France
Vincent L. Bels
Affiliation:
Hautes Ecoles Provinciales du Hainaut Occidental & Centre Agronomique de Recherches Appliquée du Hainaut, rue Paul Pastur 11, B-7800 Ath, Belgium
John Davenport
Affiliation:
University Marine Biological Station Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, KA28 0EG, Scotland Department of Zoology & Animal Ecology, University College Cork, Lee Maltings, Prospect Row, Cork, Ireland

Abstract

The hypothesis of a locomotor role for the free rays of Trigloporus lastoviza is supported by: (1) their periodic retraction and protraction during slow displacement over the substratum whenever the propulsive body wave responsible for swimming is not visible; (2) the integration of the rays' individual cycles into a hexapod gait apparently generated by a metachronal impulse; and (3) the kinematic features of the longest free ray in relation to the bottom-walking velocity.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
2000 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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