Oral Presentations
Feeding Biomechanics in Esox lucius.: Prey Capture Kinematics and Performance
Location
Room 232, Schewel Hall
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Entry Number
49
Start Date
4-10-2019 9:45 AM
End Date
4-10-2019 10:00 AM
College
Lynchburg College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Biology
Abstract
Northern pike (Esox lucius) is an esocid species in freshwater that is highly piscivorous and grows tremendously large during ontogeny. In this study, we examined feeding morphology and biomechanics of E. lucius. More specifically, we used morphometrics on the feeding apparatus to yield a three-dimensional mathematical model that was combined with a direct measurement of buccal volume and kinematics during feeding. We evaluated feeding capacity of the fish; we examined ontogenetic scaling patterns of the feeding apparatus and prey-capture capacity in E. lucius. In addition, this project tested hypotheses regarding how morphological components of the feeding apparatus (e.g., lever ratio) in E. lucius change as the fish grow in size and how its prey capture performance capacity changes during ontogeny. By using a conical frustum model, we were able to calculate an estimated buccal volume change for each of our E. lucius specimen. The frustum model was found to overestimate the actual volume change by 37% for our largest subject. The total head lengths of our specimen were 16.98cm, 8.24cm, and 8.67 cm, and we found suction flow values of 375cm/s, 199cm/s, and 237cm/s respectively. Comparing these values to previously studied centrarchid fishes (largemouth bass and bluegill sunfish), our E. lucius showed much greater suction feeding performance. While our sample size was too small to perform a statistical analysis to compare our findings, these results support that E. lucius has greater suction feeding performance than other fish species using the same feeding mode, allowing it to be a more successful freshwater predator.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Takashi Maie
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Feeding Biomechanics in Esox lucius.: Prey Capture Kinematics and Performance
Room 232, Schewel Hall
Northern pike (Esox lucius) is an esocid species in freshwater that is highly piscivorous and grows tremendously large during ontogeny. In this study, we examined feeding morphology and biomechanics of E. lucius. More specifically, we used morphometrics on the feeding apparatus to yield a three-dimensional mathematical model that was combined with a direct measurement of buccal volume and kinematics during feeding. We evaluated feeding capacity of the fish; we examined ontogenetic scaling patterns of the feeding apparatus and prey-capture capacity in E. lucius. In addition, this project tested hypotheses regarding how morphological components of the feeding apparatus (e.g., lever ratio) in E. lucius change as the fish grow in size and how its prey capture performance capacity changes during ontogeny. By using a conical frustum model, we were able to calculate an estimated buccal volume change for each of our E. lucius specimen. The frustum model was found to overestimate the actual volume change by 37% for our largest subject. The total head lengths of our specimen were 16.98cm, 8.24cm, and 8.67 cm, and we found suction flow values of 375cm/s, 199cm/s, and 237cm/s respectively. Comparing these values to previously studied centrarchid fishes (largemouth bass and bluegill sunfish), our E. lucius showed much greater suction feeding performance. While our sample size was too small to perform a statistical analysis to compare our findings, these results support that E. lucius has greater suction feeding performance than other fish species using the same feeding mode, allowing it to be a more successful freshwater predator.