{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132681"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132681","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Mechanically constrained stereotypy in agonid escape responses","abstract":"In armor design, there is often a trade-off between protection and mobility—a balance that may influence the evolution of biological armor. In this study, I investigated whether the distinctive bony armor plates of Agonid fishes, specifically that of the grey starsnout poacher (Bathyagonus alascanus), impose mechanical constraints on movement. Focusing on the C-start escape response, I used high-speed video to quantify maximum body curvature and changes in lateral body length during the behavior. To connect scale morphology to flexibility, I measured the length of adjacent lateral scales from micro-computed tomography (µCT) scans of bent and straight specimens. The resulting bent-to-straight length (BSL) ratio served as a proxy for lateral surface compression and closely matched the lateral length changes observed in C-start trials. These findings suggest that flexibility is plausibly constrained by scale morphology, contributing to stereotyped escape responses, although the fish rarely use their full bending capacity.","abstract_html":"In armor design, there is often a trade-off between protection and mobility—a balance that may influence the evolution of biological armor. In this study, I investigated whether the distinctive bony armor plates of Agonid fishes, specifically that of the grey starsnout poacher (Bathyagonus alascanus), impose mechanical constraints on movement. Focusing on the C-start escape response, I used high-speed video to quantify maximum body curvature and changes in lateral body length during the behavior. To connect scale morphology to flexibility, I measured the length of adjacent lateral scales from micro-computed tomography (µCT) scans of bent and straight specimens. The resulting bent-to-straight length (BSL) ratio served as a proxy for lateral surface compression and closely matched the lateral length changes observed in C-start trials. These findings suggest that flexibility is plausibly constrained by scale morphology, contributing to stereotyped escape responses, although the fish rarely use their full bending capacity.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Feiler, Avalon"],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Biology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Anderson, Philip","Fuller, Becky","Tan, Milton"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-12","date_published":"2025-12","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z","subjects":["biomechanics","armor"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Avalon Feiler"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132681","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Anderson, Philip","Fuller, Becky","Tan, Milton"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Feiler, Avalon"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-12","2025-12-02"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Biology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["biomechanics","armor"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Avalon Feiler"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132681"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["In armor design, there is often a trade-off between protection and mobility—a balance that may influence the evolution of biological armor. In this study, I investigated whether the distinctive bony armor plates of Agonid fishes, specifically that of the grey starsnout poacher (Bathyagonus alascanus), impose mechanical constraints on movement. Focusing on the C-start escape response, I used high-speed video to quantify maximum body curvature and changes in lateral body length during the behavior. To connect scale morphology to flexibility, I measured the length of adjacent lateral scales from micro-computed tomography (µCT) scans of bent and straight specimens. The resulting bent-to-straight length (BSL) ratio served as a proxy for lateral surface compression and closely matched the lateral length changes observed in C-start trials. These findings suggest that flexibility is plausibly constrained by scale morphology, contributing to stereotyped escape responses, although the fish rarely use their full bending capacity.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2027-12-01","The student, Avalon Feiler, accepted the attached license on 2025-12-02 at 13:49.","The student, Avalon Feiler, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2025-12-02 at 14:00.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2025-12-02 at 15:20.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #23021 on 2026-02-19 at 18:46:30"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Mechanically constrained stereotypy in agonid escape responses"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Anderson, Philip","Fuller, Becky","Tan, Milton"],"dc:creator":["Feiler, Avalon"],"dc:date":["2025-12","2025-12-02"],"dc:description":["In armor design, there is often a trade-off between protection and mobility—a balance that may influence the evolution of biological armor. In this study, I investigated whether the distinctive bony armor plates of Agonid fishes, specifically that of the grey starsnout poacher (Bathyagonus alascanus), impose mechanical constraints on movement. Focusing on the C-start escape response, I used high-speed video to quantify maximum body curvature and changes in lateral body length during the behavior. To connect scale morphology to flexibility, I measured the length of adjacent lateral scales from micro-computed tomography (µCT) scans of bent and straight specimens. The resulting bent-to-straight length (BSL) ratio served as a proxy for lateral surface compression and closely matched the lateral length changes observed in C-start trials. These findings suggest that flexibility is plausibly constrained by scale morphology, contributing to stereotyped escape responses, although the fish rarely use their full bending capacity.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2027-12-01","The student, Avalon Feiler, accepted the attached license on 2025-12-02 at 13:49.","The student, Avalon Feiler, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2025-12-02 at 14:00.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2025-12-02 at 15:20.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #23021 on 2026-02-19 at 18:46:30"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132681"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2025 Avalon Feiler"],"dc:subject":["biomechanics","armor"],"dc:title":["Mechanically constrained stereotypy in agonid escape responses"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Biology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z"}