title: Bite force is limited by the force-length relationship of skeletal muscle in black carp, Mylopharyngodon piceus.
abstract: Bite force is critical to feeding success, especially in animals that crush strong, brittle foods. Maximum bite force is typically measured as one value per individual, but the force-length relationship of skeletal muscle suggests that each individual should possess a range of gape height-specific, and, therefore, prey size-specific, bite forces. We characterized the influence of prey size on pharyngeal jaw bite force in the snail-eating black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus, family Cyprinidae), using feeding trials on artificial prey that varied independently in size and strength. We then measured jaw-closing muscle lengths in vivo for each prey size, and then determined the force-length relationship of the same muscle in situ using tetanic stimulations. Maximum bite force was surprisingly high: the largest individual produced nearly 700 N at optimal muscle length. Bite force decreased on large and small prey, which elicited long and short muscle lengths, respectively, demonstrating that the force-length relationship of skeletal muscle results in prey size-specific bite force.
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA. gidmark@brown.edu
authors: Nicholas J
authors: NJ
authors: Gidmark
authors: Nicolai
authors: N
authors: Konow
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Lopresti
authors: Elizabeth L
authors: EL
authors: Brainerd
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001732:Bite Force; D049628:Body Size; D002347:Carps / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D002933:Cineradiography; D003198:Computer Simulation; D007568:Jaw / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D010609:Pharyngeal Muscles / Q000502:physiology; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014741:Video Recording