Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Texture preferences of ascidian tadpole larvae during settlement

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 41; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10236240802360914

1029-0362

Amanda Rae Flores, Zen Faulkes,

Marine and coastal plant biology

Abstract Ascidian tadpole larvae settle on hard surfaces and undergo metamorphosis into sessile adults. To test whether tadpoles evaluate the texture of surfaces they settle upon, we presented tadpoles with surfaces that were divided into halves; each half had one of four different textures: smooth, fine sandpaper, coarse sandpaper, and sandblasted. In all cases, twice as many individuals settled on one side over the other, but this was not consistently the smooth side or the rough side. More tadpoles settled on a smooth surface than one scoured by sandpaper, but more tadpoles settled on a sandblasted surface than smooth one. This indicates tadpoles are capable of finer tactile discrimination than merely detecting a hard surface, and supports the hypothesis that ascidian tadpoles have mechanoreceptive sensory neurons. Keywords: ascidiansettlement behaviortadpole larvaemechanoreception Ascidia interrupta Acknowledgements Z. Faulkes thanks Virginia Scofield (Science Park – Research Division, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center) for inspiring this research. We thank Don Hockaday and Gib Bazo (Coastal Studies Laboratory, The University of Texas-Pan American) and Jim White (Cameron County Parks Department) for providing animals, and Tom Eubanks (Department of Biology, The University of Texas-Pan American) for providing technical support. A.R. Flores was supported by a Summer Science Internship 2006 from the Hispanic Health Research Center (School of Public Health at Houston, University of Texas). Financial support was provided by The University of Texas-Pan American Undergraduate Research Initiative.