Cranial endothermy in mobulid rays: Evolutionary and ecological implications of a thermogenic brain

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2024-10-21
Authors
Arostegui, Martin C.
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10.1111/1365-2656.14200
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Astrocyte
Cognition
Computational morphometry
Encephalization
Mesothermy
Myliobatiformes
Regional endothermy
Abstract
1. The large, metabolically expensive brains of manta and devil rays (Mobula spp.) may act as a thermogenic organ representing a unique mechanistic basis for cranial endothermy among fishes that improves central nervous system function in cold waters. 2. Whereas early hominids in hot terrestrial environments may have experienced a thermal constraint to evolving larger brain size, cetaceans and mobulids in cold marine waters may have experienced a thermal driver for enlargement of a thermogenic brain. 3. The potential for brain enlargement to yield the dual outcomes of cranial endothermy and enhanced cognition in mobulids suggests one may be an evolutionary by-product of selection for the mechanisms underlying the other, and highlights the need to account for non-cognitive functions when translating brain size into cognitive capacity. 4. Computational scientific imaging offers promising avenues for addressing the pressing mechanistic and phylogenetic questions needed to assess the theory that cranial endothermy in mobulids is the result of temperature-driven selection for a brain with augmented thermogenic potential.
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Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2024. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Wiley for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Arostegui, M. C. (2024). Cranial endothermy in mobulid rays: Evolutionary and ecological implications of a thermogenic brain. Journal of Animal Ecology, doi:10.1111/1365-2656.14200.
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Arostegui, M. C. (2024). Cranial endothermy in mobulid rays: Evolutionary and ecological implications of a thermogenic brain. Journal of Animal Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.14200
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