To test the hypothesis that digestion has a more notable physiological effect on ambush foragers than on active foragers, we investigated the behavioural, digestive and metabolic characteristics, as well as the postprandial locomotory capacity, of four species of juvenile fish distributed along the Yangtze River, China, with distinct foraging strategies. The ambush foraging southern catfish (Si...

Hybridization and polyploidization may lead to divergence in adaptation and boost speciation in angiosperms and some lower animals. Epigenetic change plays a significant role in the formation and adaptation of polyploidy. Studies of the effects of methylation on genomic recombination and gene expression in allopolyploid plants have achieved good progress. However, relevant advances in polyploid...

Chemical communication occurs when both originator (signaller) and one or more receiver(s) possess specializations for chemical exchange of information. Chemical information can be used by a wide variety of species to locate food and mates, avoid predators and engage in social interactions. In this review, we focus on chemical signalling between mates or cues from nest sites or hosts by selecte...

Injured fish skin leaks alarm substances that induce the fright reaction upon olfactory detection. The skin also contains a multitude of other odorants traditionally related to other behaviors, but to what extent they are detected upon injury is unknown. We have performed single unit recordings in the olfactory bulb (OB) of crucian carp while exposing the olfactory epithelium to skin extracts f...

A systematic investigation was conducted in Lake Taihu in autumn of 2013 and 2014, in order to understand the environmental fate of microcystins (MCs) and evaluate the health risk from MCs. Samples of water, algal cells, macrophytes, shrimps and fish were taken to detect MCs by HPLC-MS/MS after solid phase extraction. Widespread MC contamination in water, algal cells, macrophytes, shrimps and f...

polybrominated diphenyl ethers (pbdes) have been widely used in many products as flameretardants, which resulted in their release into the environment. little is known about the impact of coexisting pbdes on organisms. in this study, the in vivo effects of bde-47 and bde-99 on a suite of biomarkers, acetyl cholinesterase (ache), ethoxyresorufin-o-deethylase (erod), glutathione-s-transferase (gs...

The effects of sustained anoxia on cardiac electrical excitability were examined in the anoxia-tolerant crucian carp (Carassius carassius). The electrocardiogram (ECG) and expression of excitation-contraction coupling genes were studied in fish acclimatised to normoxia in summer (+18°C) or winter (+2°C), and in winter fish after 1, 3 and 6 weeks of anoxia. Anoxia induced a sustained bradycardia...