Caridoid Escape Reaction

The caridoid escape reaction, also known as lobstering or tail-flipping, refers to an innate escape mechanism in marine and freshwater crustaceans such as lobsters, krill, shrimp and crayfish.

The reaction, most extensively researched in crayfish, allows crustaceans to escape predators through rapid abdominal flexions that produce powerful swimming strokes — thrusting the crustacean backwards through the water and away from danger. The type of response depends on the part of the crustacean stimulated, but this stereotyped behavior is complex and is regulated both spatially and temporally through the interactions of several neurons.

Read more about Caridoid Escape Reaction:  Discovery of The First Command Neuron Mediated Behavior, Research With Crayfish

Famous quotes containing the words escape and/or reaction:

    Those who escape death in great disasters are surely destined for good fortune later.
    Chinese proverb.

    An actor must communicate his author’s given message—comedy, tragedy, serio- comedy; then comes his unique moment, as he is confronted by the looked-for, yet at times unexpected, reaction of the audience. This split second is his; he is in command of his medium; the effect vanishes into thin air; but that moment has a power all its own and, like power in any form, is stimulating and alluring.
    Eleanor Robson Belmont (1878–1979)