Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Sea otter in Simpson Bay, Alaska. The photo shows the blunt carnassial teeth in which hard food items are placed during biting events. Timm-Davis et al. (pp. 4703-4710) demonstrate that durophagy in sea otters is a specialized raptorial biting feeding mode. Their extreme blunt skull and mandibles, along with increased mechanical advantages of the masseter and increased bite force, form a repertoire of functional traits for durophagy. The kinematic data indicate innovations for the production of large bite forces at extreme wide gapes and gape angles. This image was taken under USFW permit number MA078744-4. Photo credit: Alice Cove Research.
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INSIDE JEB
CLASSICS
REVIEW
Sensing in a noisy world: lessons from auditory specialists, echolocating bats
Summary: Researchers use echolocating bats – with their adaptations for sound production and reception – as models for understanding how animals sense and communicate in noisy environments.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Characterizing the distribution of steroid sulfatase during embryonic development: when and where might metabolites of maternal steroids be reactivated?
Summary: Steroid sulfatase activity hydrolyzes steroid sulfates back to an active form. Here we demonstrate steroid sulfatase is present in various tissues during embryonic development.
Respiratory consequences of targeted losses of Hoxa5 gene function in mice
Summary: HOXA5 is a transcription factor broadly expressed in the respiratory system; Hoxa5 expression in the mesenchyme and phrenic motor neurons controls distinct aspects of respiratory development.
Head orientation of walking blowflies is controlled by visual and mechanical cues
Summary: Both mechanical and visual cues contribute to gaze orientation during free walking in blowflies, and when visual cues are lacking, more weight is given to gravity.
Low glucose availability stimulates progesterone production by mouse ovaries in vitro
Summary: Mouse ovaries respond directly to low glucose availability by increasing progesterone production; this may contribute to homeostatic processes that positively regulate blood glucose.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Pharmacological analysis of the transmembrane action potential configuration in myoepithelial cells of the spontaneously beating heart of the ascidian Styela rustica in vitro
Summary: The key role in the automaticity of the ascidian heart is played by the outward K+ currents, Na+ currents, activated hyperpolarization current If, and a current of unknown nature IX.
Thermal strategies of king penguins during prolonged fasting in water
Summary: Maintenance of near-normothermic temperatures in peripheral tissues of king penguins when fasting in cold water suggests maintained perfusion, presumably to mobilize free fatty acids from subcutaneous adipose tissue.
The opercular mouth-opening mechanism of largemouth bass functions as a 3D four-bar linkage with three degrees of freedom
Editors’ Choice: Extension of the traditional 2D four-bar linkage to a high-mobility, 3D four-bar linkage accurately predicts the motion of a mouth-opening mechanism in the skull of ray-finned fishes.
Fighting over burrows: the emergence of dominance hierarchies in the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus)
Summary: Dominant Norway lobsters profit from their rank in a social hierarchy by gaining increased access to burrows and by reducing activity outside the shelters as the hierarchy emerges.
Thermal tachypnea in avian embryos
Summary: Chicken embryos during the internal pipping phase (at a time when pulmonary ventilation initiates) are capable of responding to heat exposure by tachypnea.
A new method to characterize function of the Drosophila heart by means of optical flow
Summary: The analysis of coherent movement in Drosophila is established as a suitable indicator of qualitative changes of the heart's beating characteristics, which improves the usefulness of Drosophila as model of cardiac diseases.
Free-ranging dogs prefer petting over food in repeated interactions with unfamiliar humans
Summary: Free-ranging dogs are generally aversive towards making direct human contact for food. Interestingly, they show enhanced interactions with humans who provide them with positive social contact.
Aversive learning of odor–heat associations in ants
Highlighted Article: A new protocol to study aversive conditioning in harnessed ants exploiting the natural aggressive mandible opening response shows that ants are capable of aversive learning.
Myogenic activity and serotonergic inhibition in the chromatophore network of the squid Dosidicus gigas (family Ommastrephidae) and Doryteuthis opalescens (family Loliginidae)
Summary: A comparative physiological and immunohistochemical examination of coordinated activity among squid chromatophores in the absence of neural control and serotonin inhibition.
Neuromuscular mechanisms of an elaborate wing display in the golden-collared manakin (Manacus vitellinus)
Summary: We pinpoint the main skeletal muscles associated with the production of an elaborate gestural courtship display in a tropical bird, the golden-collared manakin.
Context-dependent chemosensory signaling, aggression and neural activation patterns in gravid female African cichlid fish
Summary: Gravid female cichlids show altered urine release and behavioral responses during inter- and intra-sexual social interactions. Brain activation patterns in socially relevant regions reveal context-dependent patterns.
Durophagous biting in sea otters (Enhydra lutris) differs kinematically from raptorial biting of other marine mammals
Summary: Sea otters represent a transitional stage of aquatic adaptation and use a specialized durophagous raptorial biting mode characterized by large gapes, large gape angles and lack of lateral gape occlusion.
Effects of food availability on metabolism, behaviour, growth and their relationships in a triploid carp
Summary: Food availability significantly affects physiological, behavioural and ecological processes in triploid carp by altering the trade-off between metabolism and growth.
Functional classification of gill ionocytes and spatiotemporal changes in their distribution after transfer from seawater to freshwater in Japanese seabass
Summary: Gill ionocytes in Japanese seabass originate from undifferentiated cells in the filaments and expand their distribution to the lamellae during freshwater acclimation.
The force-generation process in active muscle is strain sensitive and endothermic: a temperature-perturbation study
Summary: A temperature jump applied at the onset of ramp shortening enhanced force during the initial phase of force decline, indicating that cross-bridge force generation is both strain-sensitive and endothermic (absorbs heat).
CORRECTIONS
Using the reactive scope model to redefine social stress in fishes

In their Review, Katie Gilmour and colleagues redefine the ambiguous concept of social stress by using the reactive scope model as a framework to explain the divergent physiological phenotypes of dominant and subordinate fishes.
JEB grants to support junior faculty

Learn about the grants that we launched in 2023 to support junior faculty from two of our awardees: Erin Leonard, Early-Career Researcher (ECR) Visiting Fellowship recipient, and Pauline Fleischmann, Research Partnership Kickstart Travel Grant recipient. The next deadline to apply is 6 June 2025.
Thirteen-lined ground squirrels survive extraordinarily low blood oxygen

Brynne Duffy and colleagues reveal that thirteen-lined ground squirrels are true hypoxia champions surviving extreme low blood oxygen, down to just 34% oxygen, when they emerge briefly from hibernation.
The Company of Biologists Workshops

For the last 15 years, our publisher, The Company of Biologists, has provided an apt environment to inspire biology and support biologists through our Workshops series. Read about the evolution of the Workshop series and revisit JEB's experience with hosting the first Global South Workshop.
Fast & Fair peer review

Our sister journal Biology Open has recently launched the next phase of their Fast & Fair peer review initiative: offering high-quality peer review within 7 working days. To learn more about BiO’s progress and future plans, read the Editorial by Daniel Gorelick, or visit the Fast & Fair peer review page.