Summary
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1.
Rapid adductions of the shell valves in the scallop (Aequipecten) are associated with large electrical transients in the fast portion of the adductor muscle. It is assumed that these are muscle action potentials and accurately reflect volley frequency in the motor nerves to the muscle.
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2.
During swimming behavior a rhythmic motor output occurs, the frequency of which can he altered by procedures which damp or assist movements of the shell valves relative to each other.
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3.
Adequate stretch of the fast adductor muscle is necessary for the occurrence of rhythmic motor output. However, even in the stretched condition, sustained rhythmic output must be phased by some relative valve movement.
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4.
Swimming behavior is most simply considered to be the result of the alternate release of energy in the resilium and the fast adductor; these elements constitute a relaxation oscillator which operates at a characteristic frequency until fast muscle stretch is damped by activity of the slow adductor, or until phasic input to the central nervous system from the muscle sensory systems is adapted out.
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I am indebted to Drs. DONALD KENNEDY and DONALD M. WILSON for reading, with a critical eye, an early draft of this paper and for suggesting the experiments resulting in Figure 8. This research was supported by grant No. NB 04989-05 from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, USPHS.
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De Mellon, F. The reflex control of rhythmic motor output during swimming in the scallop. Z. Vergl. Physiol. 62, 318–336 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00395744
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00395744