dc.contributor.author	Haney, William Austin
dc.date.accessioned	2017-05-11T19:45:19Z
dc.date.available	2017-05-11T19:45:19Z
dc.date.issued	2017-05
dc.identifier.citation	Haney, William Austin. "Characterization of Body Knotting Behavior in Hagfish" master's thesis. Valdosta State University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10428/2812.
dc.identifier.other	4F913055-9F1E-D7B4-4FD7-8EEC5AFB1C23	UUID
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10428/2812
dc.description.abstract	Hagfishes possess a flexibility that allows them to form body knots and then slide the knots along their body. This behavior enhances the hagfish’s ability to clean mucous off their body, escape tight spaces, pull prey from burrows and possibly replace the leverage commonly generated by an opposing jaw. Despite the importance of this knotting behavior to the survival of hagfishes, very little has been reported in the literature. This is probably due to the difficulty of studying the behavior in the wild. Using a novel hagfish restraint device, consistent and reliable knotting events were captured with high-speed bi-planar video. I used these recordings to characterize the type and kinematics of knots made by three species belonging to the two families of hagfishes: Eptatretus stoutii, Eptatretus springeri, and Myxine glutinosa. I found that hagfishes statistically preferred simple knots despite the higher internal stresses that these knots theoretically induce. Also, despite the behavioral stiffness (does not coil) of E. springeri and M. glutinosa when compared to E. stoutii (coils) there was no statistical difference in looseness of knots tied when comparing radii of loops between species. However, decreased stiffness may be beneficial: E. stoutii was able to tie more complex knots than the other two species. The hagfish body represents an extremely flexible hyper-redundant system that may require a high level of neural input for control. However, kinematic video analysis reveals a potential elegant solution: hagfishes seem to employ only three body movements (crossover the body, tail-wrap, and tail insertion into a loop). These three motions can be re-ordered to create the entire diversity of observed knots as well as more complex theoretical knots. Furthermore, statistical analysis suggests that these motions were performed in the same manner across all species. This study suggests that knotting may be efficiently controlled by motor primitives and sets the stage for neurophysiological investigations.	en_US
dc.description.tableofcontents	Chapter I: INTRODUCTION 1 \| Body Knotting in Aquatic Craniates 1 \| Knotting Ecology/Anatomy in Hagfishes 4 \| The Knotting Control Problem 5 \| Knot Theory 7 \| Hypotheses 9 \| Goal 1 9 \| Goal 2 9 \| Goal 3 10 \| Goal 4 10 \| Chapter II: METHODS AND MATERIALS 12 \| Overview 12 \| Chapter III: RESULTS 18 \| Types of Knots 18 \| Movements and Rules of Knotting 19 \| Movements for Each Knot Type. 20 \| Knot Geometry 21 \| Chapter IV: DISCUSSION 23 \| Inducing Knotting Behavior 23 \| Knot Complexity 23 \| Behavioral Stiffness 24 \| Knotting Control 25 \| Future Directions 27 \| REFERENCES 28 \| APPENDIX A: IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Output 32 \| APPENDIX B: Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Approval 39 \|	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Hagfishes	en_US
dc.subject	Bones--Mechanical properties	en_US
dc.subject	Biomechanics	en_US
dc.subject	Animal behavior	en_US
dc.subject	Kinematics	en_US
dc.title	Characterization of Body Knotting Behavior in Hagfish	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Department of Biology of the College of Arts and Sciences	en_US
dc.description.advisor	Uyeno, Theodore A.
dc.description.committee	Reece, Joshua S.
dc.description.committee	Clark, Andrew J.
dc.description.degree	M.S.	en_US
dc.description.major	Biology	en_US