Pleuronectiform fishes (flatfishes) hatch as bilaterally symmetrical larvae, but during metamorphosis one eye migrates to the opposite side of the head (Sumida

• Main Authors: A Flatfish Pleuronichthys Verticalis, Alice C. Gibb
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Turbot
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.22.7111; http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~acg/gibbpage/pvfeed.pdf

ay during rapid prey capture (for example, Liem, 1978). However, several species of fish have demonstrated bilaterally asymmetrical muscle activity patterns during slower methods of food acquisition (e.g. algae scraping) and during manipulation of the prey (Liem, 1979, 1980; Lauder and Norton, 1980). The possibility of functional bilateral asymmetry has previously been examined in pleuronectiform respiration. Early studies of respiration suggested that breathing in flatfishes is bilaterally asymmetrical (Yazdani and Alexander, 1967) and therefore involves bilaterally asymmetrical head movements and muscle activity patterns. However, a more 1173 The Journal of Experimental Biology 198, 1173--1183 (1995) Printed in Great Britain The Company of Biologists Limited 1995 Hornyhead turbot, Pleuronichthys verticalis (Pleuronectiformes: Pleuronectidae), are morphologically asymmetrical teleosts with substantial bilateral asymmetry in t