Behavioral and physiological studies on neuronal basis for lateralizedpredation in scale-eating cichlid fish

行为偏侧化在许多脊椎动物中已有文献记载，但对其神经元基础的定义很少。在这里，我们通过高速视频监控和行为偏侧性和运动学的定量评估来研究池塘中慈鱼的食鳞行为。偏爱侧的屈体最大角速度和最大屈曲幅度明显大于非偏爱侧。在逃避反应中，在听觉诱发的屈曲中没有发现这种偏侧化的运动，这类似于吃鳞时的屈曲，这表明在食鳞时控制身体屈曲的神经元回路可能是在共同运动通路的上游功能偏侧化的。

Behavioral lateralization has been documented in many vertebrates,but little has been defined for the neuronal basis of it. Here, we studied scale-eatingbehavior in cichlids in a tank through high-speed video monitoring and quantitative assessmentof behavioral laterality and kinematics. The maximum angular velocity and amplitude of bodyflexion were significantly larger during attacks on the preferred side compared to those onthe nonpreferred side. No such lateralized movement was found in acoustically evoked flexionduring the escape response, which is similar to flexion during scale eating, suggesting thatthe neuronal circuits controlling body flexion during scale eating may be functionallylateralized upstream of the common motor pathway.