Getting around when you're round: quantitative analysis of the locomotion of the blunt-spined brittle star, Ophiocoma echinata

The Journal of Experimental Biology
Henry C Astley

Abstract

Brittle stars (Ophiuroidea, Echinodermata) are pentaradially symmetrical echinoderms that use five multi-jointed limbs to locomote along the seafloor. Prior qualitative descriptions have claimed coordinated movements of the limbs in a manner similar to tetrapod vertebrates, but this has not been evaluated quantitatively. It is uncertain whether the ring-shaped nervous system, which lacks an anatomically defined anterior, is capable of generating rhythmic coordinated movements of multiple limbs. This study tested whether brittle stars possess distinct locomotor modes with strong inter-limb coordination as seen in limbed animals in other phyla (e.g. tetrapods and arthropods), or instead move each limb independently according to local sensory feedback. Limb tips and the body disk were digitized for 56 cycles from 13 individuals moving across sand. Despite their pentaradial anatomy, all individuals were functionally bilateral, moving along the axis of a central limb via synchronous motions of contralateral limbs (±~13% phase lag). Two locomotor modes were observed, distinguishable mainly by whether the central limb was directed forwards or backwards. Turning was accomplished without rotation of the body disk by defining a different...Continue Reading

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Citations

Apr 2, 2015·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Henry C AstleyDaniel I Goldman
Feb 13, 2018·Frontiers in Zoology·Olga ZuevaVladimir Mashanov
Jan 9, 2018·Royal Society Open Science·Takeshi KanoAkio Ishiguro
Nov 23, 2018·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Elizabeth G ClarkAkio Ishiguro
Jan 9, 2020·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Daiki WakitaHitoshi Aonuma
Jan 9, 2020·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Sina HeydariEva Kanso
Jun 9, 2021·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Lauren Sumner-RooneyEsther Ullrich-Lüter
Oct 15, 2021·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Olaf EllersAmy S Johnson

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