Abstract
This study examines the swimming speed in amictic females of Brachionus plicatilis in laboratory cultures. Five different stages were examined: recently hatched females, juveniles, adult non-ovigerous females, ovigerous females with 1 attached egg and ovigerous females with 2 attached eggs. We tested the speed at two temperatures, 15 °C and 25 °C, and two feeding conditions, presence and absence of microalgal cells. An automated motion analysis system was used to measure speed which was then video recorded. Swimming speed (μm s−1) increased with increasing body size. There was a slight decrease in the speed of adult females as the number of attached eggs increased. Swimming activity was higher at 25 °C than at 15 °C and in the absence of food than if microalgae were present. Average values under the different experimental conditions ranged between 500 μm s−1 for the recently hatched and fed females and 1500 μm s−1 for the adult non-ovigerous females in the absence of microalgae. Mass-specific swimming speed decreased with body mass increase.
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Yúfera, M., Pascual, E. & Olivares, J. Factors Affecting Swimming Speed in the Rotifer Brachionus plicatilis. Hydrobiologia 546, 375–380 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-4279-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-4279-y