Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38172236›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2024

Feeding kinematics of a surgeonfish reveal novel functions and relationships to reef substrata.

Michalis Mihalitsis, Peter C Wainwright

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
9.7field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  4. Cranial modularity drives phenotypic diversification and adaptive radiation of Antarctic icefishes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Michalis MihalitsisDepartment of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA. mmihalitsis@ucdavis.edu.ORCID 0000-0001-7270-6879
Peter C WainwrightDepartment of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0498-4759
University of California, Davis · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Biting to obtain attached benthic prey characterizes a large number of fish species on coral reefs, and is a feeding mode that contributes to important ecosystem functions. We use high-speed video to reveal the mechanisms used by a surgeonfish, Acanthurus leucosternon, to detach algae. After gripping algae in its jaws, the species pulls it by ventrally rotating both the head and the closed jaws, in a novel use of the intra-mandibular joint. These motions remain in the plane of the fish, reducing the use of a lateral head flick to detach the algae. The novel ability to bite and pull algae off the substrate without bending the body laterally minimizes exposure to high water flows, and may be an adaptation to feeding in challenging reef habitats such as the crest and flat. Therefore, our results could potentially represent a key milestone in the evolutionary history of coral reef trophodynamics.

Indexed as

EcosystemPerciformesAnimalsBiomechanical PhenomenaCoral ReefsFishes

Identifiers

PMID38172236
PMCPMC10764775
OpenAlexW4390535992

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.