{"id":194,"date":"2012-10-04T16:08:30","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T16:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/as.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/?page_id=194"},"modified":"2017-01-31T21:47:20","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:47:20","slug":"tentacled-snakes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/research\/tentacled-snakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Tentacled Snakes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tentacled snakes (Erpeton tentaculatum<\/em>) are fully aquatic, fish-eating specialists. Fish in turn are expert escape artists, presenting a challenge to the snake. This longstanding predator-prey interaction has resulted in the evolution of remarkably deceptive fishing strategies by snakes. When hunting, tentacled snakes adopt a J-shaped posture and wait for fish to approach. Once the fish is in the right position, the snake feints with its body to startle the fish towards the snake\u2019s strike. As a result, the escaping fish often swims partially or completely into the snake\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 For some fish approach angles, tentacled snakes predict and aim for the future location of the escaping fish\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tentacled snakes integrate water motion cues (detected with the tentacles) with visual cues to determine fish positions.\u00a0 The mechanosensory and visual information are integrated in the snake\u2019s optic tectum.<\/td>\n<\/td>\nFish detect striking predators with their ears and lateral line sensory organs.\u00a0 This information projects to giant neurons (Mauthner neurons) that initiate a \u201cC-start\u201d escape response in less than 10 milliseconds.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nTentacles snakes turn the fish escape responses to their advantage by activating the Mauthner neurons on the side of the fish opposite from the snake\u2019s striking direction.\u00a0 As a result, the fish usually turns in the wrong direction – toward the snake\u2019s strike.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Frames captured with a high-speed video system show a fish being
\nstartled into the snake\u2019s mouth (slow motion movie<\/a>).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Frames captured with a high-speed video system show a tentacled snake predicting
\nthe future location of an escaping fish (slow motion movie<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Click here for a recent review of these and other results<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tentacled snakes (Erpeton tentaculatum) are fully aquatic, fish-eating specialists. Fish in turn are expert escape artists, presenting a challenge to the snake. This longstanding predator-prey interaction has resulted in the evolution of remarkably deceptive fishing strategies by snakes. When hunting, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1040,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1040"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":753,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/194\/revisions\/753"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/catanialab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}