Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: The blue-ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena lunulata, displaying blue rings as an aposematic colour signal. Animals and plants use polarisation signalling in communication, as reviewed by Marshall et al. (jeb134213). Photoreceptor ultrastructure in octopuses and other cephalopods, like that in many invertebrates, enables polarisation sensitivity, an obvious pre-requisite for seeing and interpreting polarisation signals. This is of particular interest in cephalopods as almost all are colour blind and their intraspecific signalling language may rely on polarisation in place of hue. Colour signals, as from this blue-ringed octopus, have evolved for other animal colour vision systems to see. Photo credit: Roy Caldwell.
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INSIDE JEB
OUTSIDE JEB
REVIEW
Polarisation signals: a new currency for communication
Summary: Recent evidence shows animals use polarised light, as well as colour, to signal each other. This is a critical review of this new area in animal vision and ecology.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Visuomotor strategies for object approach and aversion in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: Animals classify stimuli to generate appropriate motor actions; aversive responses to a small object in Drosophila melanogaster are driven in part by processes that elicit signed saccades with distinct dynamics and trigger mechanisms.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Food deprivation reduces social interest in the European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax
Summary: Effects of food deprivation on three behavioural traits – risk taking, exploratory activity and solitariness – as well as the relationships between them, in juvenile sea bass.
Facultative mobilization of eggshell calcium promotes embryonic growth in an oviparous snake
Summary: Corn snake yolk contains all the nutrients required for embryonic development but embryonic exploitation of calcium from eggshells enriches hatchling calcium content and results in larger hatchlings.
Studies on gas exchange in the meadow spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius: the metabolic cost of feeding on, and living in, xylem sap
Editors' Choice: Spittlebugs snorkel to breathe atmospheric O2 while submerged in a foam of excreted xylem sap. The metabolic cost associated with sucking xylem sap from the plant is surprisingly low.
Alanine, proline and urea are major organic osmolytes in the snail Theodoxus fluviatilis under hyperosmotic stress
Summary: Although alanine and proline play a crucial role in osmoregulation under hyperosmotic stress in both freshwater and brackish water Theodoxus fluviatilis snails, they differ in their mechanisms of organic osmolyte accumulation and the importance of urea in the process of osmoregulation.
Bone without minerals and its secondary mineralization in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar): the recovery from phosphorus deficiency
Summary: In Atlantic salmon fed a phosphorous-deficient diet, new bone is devoid of minerals. Bone formation and mineralization become uncoupled. Non-mineralized bone is functional and retains the capacity to mineralize.
Neuroligin tuning of pharyngeal pumping reveals extrapharyngeal modulation of feeding in Caenorhabditis elegans
Summary: The integration of distinct sensory modalities is essential for behavioural decision making. In C. elegans neuroligin organizes extrapharyngeal microcircuits to modulate the food trigger response.
Starvation resistance is associated with developmentally specified changes in sleep, feeding and metabolic rate
Summary: Drosophila melanogaster selected for starvation resistance take longer to develop and exhibit development-specific changes in traits associated with the accumulation and conservation of energy stores.
Sound localization behavior in Drosophila melanogaster depends on inter-antenna vibration amplitude comparisons
Highlighted Article: Walking Drosophila melanogaster steer toward sounds to their front, but away from sounds to their rear. These behaviors are explained by a simple rule: flies steer away from the antenna with the larger vibration amplitude.
Chum salmon migrating upriver adjust to environmental temperatures through metabolic compensation
Highlighted Article: Thermal accommodation in salmon migrating upriver is achieved via thermal metabolic compensation.
Do naked mole rats accumulate a metabolic acidosis or an oxygen debt in severe hypoxia?
Summary: Naked mole rats enter into a coma-like state upon reoxygenation following severe hypoxia but do not pay off an oxygen debt.
Configural learning: a higher form of learning in Lymnaea
Summary: Lymnaea display higher-order learning, including configural learning, which is the ability to give new meaning to a stimulus as a result of experiencing stimuli simultaneously.
Avoiding topsy-turvy: how Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) fly through upward gusts
Summary: Hummingbirds flying through intense upward gusts experience pronounced downward pitching motions (i.e. nose dives). In response, they interrupt flapping, hold the wings dorsally, and angle and fan the tail.
Dynamics of pleasure–displeasure at the limit of exercise tolerance: conceptualizing the sense of exertional physical fatigue as an affective response
Summary: A new conceptualization of the sense of exertional physical fatigue, a universal human trait the nature and the neurobiological origins of which are commonly described in the literature as an enigma.
Kinematic signatures of prey capture from archival tags reveal sex differences in killer whale foraging activity
Highlighted Article: A method to identify subsurface prey capture by stereotyped movement signatures of fish-eating killer whales recorded on bio-logging tags reveals sex differences in foraging behavior.
Noise as an informational cue for decision-making: the sound of rain delays bat emergence
Highlighted Article: Bats base roost emergence decisions on the acoustic component of rainfall, indicating that noise can serve as an important informational cue in decision-making.
Specialized movement and laterality of fin-biting behaviour in Genyochromis mento in Lake Malawi
Summary: Fin-biting cichlids in Lake Malawi exhibit a lateralized preference for side of attack. Predatory fish aiming for prey that show escape behaviours may frequently present lateralized behaviour in predation.
Traction reinforcement in prehensile feet of harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones)
Summary: Tarsal wrapping in harvestmen permits a secure foothold on smooth cylindrical objects despite the lack of adhesive foot pads.
Environmental temperature effects on adipose tissue growth in a hibernator
Summary: Cold exposure in the thirteen-lined ground squirrel appears to be a primary regulator of white adipose tissue but brown adipose tissue may exhibit an endogenous circannual rhythm in terms of depot volume.
Agonistic behaviour and energy metabolism of bold and shy swimming crabs Portunus trituberculatus
Summary: Bold crabs were more aggressive than shy crabs, and the differences in energy metabolism affected their performance in terms of personality traits and agonistic behaviour.
A lethal fungal pathogen directly alters tight junction proteins in the skin of a susceptible amphibian
Summary: The deadly fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, responsible for worldwide amphibian declines, was found to increase skin permeability and alter the tight junction complex in Australian green tree frogs.
Nitrogen handling in the elasmobranch gut: a role for microbial urease
Summary: Microbial urease activity in the gut fluid and epithelia of elasmobranchs plays an important role in producing ammonia from urea for absorption in the digestive tract.
CORRECTION
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.