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Science 14 August 1970:
Vol. 169. no. 3946, pp. 698 - 700
DOI: 10.1126/science.169.3946.698
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Articles

Crayfish Swimming: Alternating Motor Output and Giant Fiber Activity

Joan E. Schrameck 1

1 Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

Many workers have suggested that the crayfish giant fibers trigger swimming movements or tail flips during escape responses. Recordings from intact animals show that this is often not the case; both swimming and single tail flips can occur in the absence of giant fiber activity. Swimming movements and tail flips are coordinated by neural mechanisms not involving the giant fibers. When giant fibers are active, they may trigger the first flexion in a swimming sequence, initiate a single tail flip, or synchronize the muscular activity in the several segments of the abdomen, but they are not a necessary part of the neural oscillator which drives swimming.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Different command neurons select different outputs from a shared premotor interneuron of crayfish tail-flip circuitry.
A. Kramer, F. Krasne, and K. Bellman (1981)
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Developmental Neuroethology: Changes in Escape and Defensive Behavior During Growth of the Lobster.
F. LANG, C. K. GOVIND, W. J. COSTELLO, and S. I. GREENE (1977)
Science 197, 682-685
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Neuronal Circuit Mediating Escape Responses in Crayfish.
R. S. Zucker, D. Kennedy, and A. I. Selverston (1971)
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