Optimal Movement In The Prey Strikes Of Weakly Electric Fish

Main Category: Veterinary
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 25 Sep 2008 - 7:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Animal behaviour is the result of a complex interplay of biomechanical, neuronal, sensory, and environmental factors.

It is therefore rare to be able to understand behaviour through idealised mathematical models. In their work on modelling the prey strike trajectories of weakly electric fish, Postlethwaite et al. show that previously measured such trajectories are consistent with computationally generated optimal trajectories.

More generally, their work shows that the body form of an aquatic animal can have strong implications for how the animal needs to be able to move for achieving optimal movement. Application of this approach can uncover the ways that body shape and movement capability are complementary.

Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Journal of the Royal Society Interface is the Society's cross-disciplinary publication promoting research at the interface between the physical and life sciences. It offers rapidity, visibility and high-quality peer review and is ranked fifth in JCR's multidisciplinary category. The journal also incorporates Interface Focus, a peer-reviewed, themed supplement, each issue of which concentrates on a specific cross-disciplinary subject.

www.publishing.royalsociety.org/interface

• Additional
• References
• Citations