Muscle fiber types and functional demands in feeding mechanisms of fishes

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Abstract
Profiles of muscle fiber types and pharyngeal jaw dentition vary in accordance with trophic demands and skeletal organization in teleost fishes. Carnivorous, omnivorous, and molluscivorous members of the ecologically analogous Cichlidae and Centrarchidae were compared in terms of their pharyngeal jaw anatomy and branchial muscle histochemistry. The two families differed greatly in patterns of tooth form, wear, and replacement. Four muscle fiber type patterns were discoverd: (1) single fiber, (2) zoned, (3) mosaic, and (4) zoned‐mosaic. Multiple fiber type muscles were more prevalent in fishes that masticate tough foods with their pharyngeal jaws. Such muscles were also more prevalent in cichlids than in centrarchids. It appears that muscles with multiple fiber types in lower vertebrates are, as a rule, compartmentalized, whereas in higher vertebrates, multiple fiber type muscles are a musaic matrix. The occurrence of mosaic patterns in some fish branchial muscles, however, suggests that mosaic muscles are initially single fiber type muscles exposed to complex functional demands, such as food preparation. Furthermore, it is plausible that the evolutionary replacement of the lower vertebrate zoning pattern by the higher vertebrate mosaic matrix is directly related to the effects of gravity, a force more influential on terrestrial than on aquatic organisms.