Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Many anemone shrimp, such as this Periclimenes yucatanicus, have bodies that are so transparent that they look almost invisible on their background. However, transparency can be temporarily disrupted by environmental or physiological stressors. Anemone shrimp become opaque after only a few tail flips, an escape behavior. Bagge et al. (pp. 4225–4233) describe one mechanism for this disruption in transparency. Exercise-induced increases in blood volume between muscle fibers create regions of low refractive index fluid between high refractive index muscles. Photo credit: Laura E. Bagge.
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INSIDE JEB
JEB CLASSICS
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Linking the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of ageing: evidence for somatotropic control of long-term memory function in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis
Summary: Natural selection optimizes the way organisms spend their limiting resources on growth, reproduction and survival. We tie this process to learning performance in a snail model of neuronal ageing.
METHODS & TECHNIQUES
Giving invertebrates an eye exam: an ophthalmoscope that utilizes the autofluorescence of photoreceptors
Summary: We describe a micro-ophthalmoscope that takes advantage of autofluorescent properties of invertebrate photoreceptors and allows for in vivo testing of refractive errors in small arthropod eyes.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Silencing and augmentation of IAG hormone transcripts in adult Macrobrachium rosenbergii males affects morphotype transformation
Summary: Morphotype transformation in adult Macrobrachium rosenbergii males from orange to blue claw on augmentation of insulin-like androgenic gland hormone.
Rapid expansion of pigmentation genes in penaeid shrimp with absolute preservation of function
Summary: The regulation and molecular evolution of pigmentation in crustaceans is more complex than initially thought, with multiple lineage-specific duplications and functional redundancy in shrimp pigmentation genes.
Characterizing Chilean blue whale vocalizations with DTAGs: a test of using tag accelerometers for caller identification
Summary: Characterization of the Chilean blue whale vocal repertoire and a modified method of using DTAG accelerometers to identify calling blue whales.
Nurse honeybee workers tend capped brood, which does not require feeding, around the clock
Summary: Honeybee workers tend larvae around the clock; capped brood that is not fed, but not brood pheromones, attracts similar around-the-clock tending by individually isolated ‘nurse’ bees.
Modulation of muscle–tendon interaction in the human triceps surae during an energy dissipation task
Summary: During a simple landing task, the compliance of elastic structures and muscle activity modulate energy absorption and dissipation via active lengthening of the triceps surae fascicles.
Lack of behavioural responses of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) indicate limited effectiveness of sonar mitigation
Highlighted Article: Variation in behavioural responses of humpback whales limits the effectiveness of a ramp-up procedure used to mitigate physiological effects of naval sonar on marine animals.
Circannual testis and moult cycles persist under photoperiods that disrupt circadian activity and clock gene cycles in spotted munia
Summary: The prevailing light environment and circadian clock do not control circannual timing of reproductive phenotypes in spotted munia, suggesting independent circadian and circannual rhythm generation in seasonally breeding species.
Lower limb biomechanical analysis during an unanticipated step on a bump reveals specific adaptations of walking on uneven terrains
Summary: Investigation of an unanticipated step on uneven ground reveals two distinct adaptive strategies: an ankle-based strategy when stepping with the forefoot, and a hip-based strategy when stepping with the rearfoot.
Effects of a titin mutation on negative work during stretch–shortening cycles in skeletal muscles
Summary: Active muscles from mice with a small titin deletion exhibit large deficits in net negative work, suggesting that titin contributes to energy storage and dissipation during stretch–shortening cycles.
Divergent respiratory and cardiovascular responses to hypoxia in bar-headed geese and Andean birds
Highlighted Article: When exposed to progressive hypoxia, bar-headed geese (biannual high-altitude migrators) increase ventilation and heart rate, whereas Andean geese (lifelong high-altitude residents) increase lung oxygen extraction and cardiac stroke volume.
Disentangling drivers of reproductive performance in urban great tits: a food supplementation experiment
Summary: Food supplementation could have a negative impact on breeding performance of wild urban great tits.
Microbiome symbionts and diet diversity incur costs on the immune system of insect larvae
Summary: Having high numbers of midgut symbionts may bring costs to a host organism, which is a crucial finding for understanding the evolution of host–symbiont interactions.
It's not all black and white: visual scene parameters influence optokinetic reflex performance in Xenopus laevis tadpoles
Highlighted Article: Gaze-stabilizing optokinetic reflexes in Xenopus laevis tadpoles are systematically influenced by the parameters of the visual scene, likely because of properties of retinal motion processing.
Transparent anemone shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) become opaque after exercise and physiological stress in correlation with increased hemolymph perfusion
Summary: Transparency in shrimp is reversibly disrupted after exposure to physiological or environmental stressors; the increase in opacity is associated with a corresponding increase in hemolymph perfusion to the abdominal musculature.
The effects of pH and Pi on tension and Ca2+ sensitivity of ventricular myofilaments from the anoxia-tolerant painted turtle
Summary: Myofilament contractility of turtle ventricle is more sensitive to physiological levels of acidosis than to increased inorganic phosphate. The myofilament calcium sensitivities of ventricles from turtles and other ectotherms are similar.
Swimming with multiple propulsors: measurement and comparison of swimming gaits in three species of neotropical cichlids
Summary: Differently shaped fish species use varying combinations of body–caudal fin and pectoral fin propulsion at different speeds. Gait is characterized as a trajectory through propulsive parameter space for analysis and comparison.
Elastic ankle muscle–tendon interactions are adjusted to produce acceleration during walking in humans
Summary: A novel mechanism is presented by which human ankle muscles use their elastic tendons to contribute mechanical work and produce acceleration during walking gait.
Cold tolerance of Drosophila species is tightly linked to the epithelial K+ transport capacity of the Malpighian tubules and rectal pads
Summary: The scanning ion-selective electrode technique reveals that cold tolerance in Drosophila is linked to the ability to maintain ion balance through adaptive changes in epithelial K+ transport.
A circuit for detection of interaural time differences in the nucleus laminaris of turtles
Summary: Turtles share auditory brainstem connectivity with other reptiles, as well as birds, and encode interaural time differences in the nucleus laminaris.
Physiological effects of increased foraging effort in a small passerine
Summary: Tests on the effects of experimentally increased foraging effort on a suite of physiological metrics in a small passerine provide evidence for physiological adjustments and cost of high workload associated with foraging.
Thermal history and gape of individual Mytilus californianus correlate with oxidative damage and thermoprotective osmolytes
Highlighted Article: Variation in thermal experience and behavior contributes to inter-individual physiological variation within intertidal mussel beds, providing valuable insight into physiological plasticity and variable costs of defending against environmental stress.
Multimodal in situ datalogging quantifies inter-individual variation in thermal experience and persistent origin effects on gaping behavior among intertidal mussels (Mytilus californianus)
Summary: Biologging of mussels in the rocky intertidal zone reveals substantial temperature differences over the scale of centimeters, while environmental conditions and mussel origin underlie variation in shell gaping behavior.
Celebrating 100 years of discovery

We are proud to be celebrating 100 years of discovery in Journal of Experimental Biology. Visit our centenary webpage to find out more about how we are marking this historic milestone.
Craig Franklin launches our centenary celebrations

Editor-in-Chief Craig Franklin reflects on 100 years of JEB and looks forward to our centenary celebrations, including a supplementary special issue, a new early-career researcher interview series and the launch of our latest funding initiatives.
Looking back on the first issue of JEB

Journal of Experimental Biology launched in 1923 as The British Journal of Experimental Biology. As we celebrate our centenary, we look back at that first issue and the zoologists publishing their work in the new journal.
Webinar: Increasing the visibility and impact of your research
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Would you like to increase the visibility and impact of your research and raise your profile internationally? If so, register for the very practical webinar we are running in association with HUBS on 23 February 2023.
Biology Communication Workshop: Engaging the world in the excitement of research
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We are delighted to be sponsoring a Biology Communication Workshop for early-career researchers as part of JEB’s centenary celebrations. The workshop focuses on how to effectively communicate your science to other researchers and the public and takes place the day before the CSZ annual meeting, on 14 May 2023. Find out more and apply here.
Mexican fruit flies wave for distraction

Dinesh Rao and colleagues have discovered that Mexican fruit flies vanish in a blur in the eyes of predatory spiders when they wave their wings at the arachnids, buying the flies time to make their escape.