{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T09:28:19Z","timestamp":1786613299217,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"The Company of Biologists","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786492800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":11,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100021675","name":"Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University and Research","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100021675","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004890","name":"Wageningen University","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004890","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The fast axial muscle fibres of teleosts enable rapid starts and high-speed swimming. Their arrangement in densely packed nested helices, combined with shear deformation, has been proposed to reduce variance in muscle-fibre-aligned strains across transverse cross-sections, enabling similar contributions to power generation. In zebrafish (Danio rerio), a helical pattern is already present at hatching, but its effect on strain variance remained unclear. Previous studies analysed only the anal region and used distortion-prone vibratome sections. Here, we predicted muscle-fibre-aligned strain distributions as a function of lateral curvature using in vivo measurements of muscle-fibre orientation along the anterior 70% of the axial muscles of 4\u00a0days post-fertilisation larval zebrafish. Using a bending-beam model, we compared strain distributions for hypothetical longitudinal fibre orientations and the measured helical arrangement, and examined how added-shear deformation and modest median-plane compression alter these distributions. Relative to longitudinal fibres, the helical arrangement reduced muscle-fibre-aligned strains in lateral regions but had little effect on strain variance across transverse sections. Incorporating shear into the helical arrangement, however, consistently reduced strain variance irrespective of body curvature, with the strongest effects anteriorly where helicity is most developed. Allowing median-plane compression further reduced strain variance on the concave side but increased it on the convex side. To assess functional relevance, we predicted maximum mean fibre strains and strain rates along the body from previously recorded swimming kinematics. We conclude that a helical muscle-fibre arrangement with added shear reduces strain variance and supports feasible strain rates during vigorous swimming. These results probably generalise across bony fish larvae.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.251951","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,9]],"date-time":"2026-07-09T12:03:02Z","timestamp":1783598582000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Predicting axial muscle-fibre strains in larval zebrafish"],"prefix":"10.1242","volume":"229","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4433-880X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Johan L.","family":"van Leeuwen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Wageningen University Experimental Zoology Group, Department of Animal Sciences , , De Elst 1, 6708 WD Wageningen ,","place":["The Netherlands"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5105-0655","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Noraly M. M. E.","family":"van Meer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wageningen University Experimental Zoology Group, Department of Animal Sciences , , De Elst 1, 6708 WD Wageningen ,","place":["The Netherlands"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8261-2187","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martin J.","family":"Lankheet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wageningen University Experimental Zoology Group, Department of Animal Sciences , , De Elst 1, 6708 WD Wageningen ,","place":["The Netherlands"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"237","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1285","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1095-8649.1997.tb01653.x","article-title":"Growth and multiplication of white skeletal muscle fibres in carp larvae in relation to somatic growth rate","volume":"50","author":"Alami-Durante","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. 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Zool."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2239","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.204.13.2239","article-title":"Spatial variation in fast muscle function of the rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss during fast-starts and sprinting","volume":"204","author":"Ellerby","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Exp. Biol."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00004524","article-title":"Myosin, parvalbumin and myofibril expression in barbel (Barbus barbus L.) lateral white muscle during development","volume":"10","author":"Focant","year":"1992","journal-title":"Fish Physiol. Biochem."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1095-8649.2003.00064.x","article-title":"Expression of myofibrillar proteins and parvalbumin isoforms in white muscle of the developing turbot Scophthalmus maximus (Pisces, Pleuronectiformes)","volume":"10","author":"Focant","year":"2000","journal-title":"Basic Appl. Myol."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"493","DOI":"10.1016\/S1096-4959(03)00116-7","article-title":"Expression of myofibrillar proteins and parvalbumin isoforms during the development of a flatfish, the common sole Solea solea: comparison with the turbot Scophthalmus maximus","volume":"135","author":"Focant","year":"2003","journal-title":"Comp. Biochem. Physiol. B Biochem. Mol. 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Cell Motil."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2289","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.01642","article-title":"The mechanical scaling of coasting in zebrafish (Danio rerio)","volume":"208","author":"McHenry","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Exp. Biol."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"806","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bpj.2020.06.036","article-title":"Mechanical characteristics of ultrafast zebrafish larval swimming muscles","volume":"119","author":"Mead","year":"2020","journal-title":"Biophys. J."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"123","DOI":"10.1163\/002829682X00102","article-title":"Efficiency in relation to the design of the segmented body musculature in Brachydanio rerio","volume":"32","author":"Mos","year":"1982","journal-title":"Neth. J. Zool."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"853","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.00821","article-title":"Swimming of larval zebrafish: ontogeny of body waves and implications for locomotory development","volume":"207","author":"M\u00fcller","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Exp. Biol."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"575","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1005397501968","article-title":"Troponin T: genetics, properties and function","volume":"19","author":"Perry","year":"1998","journal-title":"J. Muscle Res. 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Biol."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C30","unstructured":"Van der Stelt, A.\n           (1968). Spiermechanica en myotoombouw bij vissen. PhD thesis, University of Amsterdam, LJ Veen's Uitgeversmaatschappij No. V."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1289","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.012336","article-title":"A functional analysis of myotomal muscle-fibre reorientation in developing zebrafish Danio rerio","volume":"211","author":"Van Leeuwen","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Exp. Biol."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"20150479","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2015.0479","article-title":"How body torque and Strouhal number change with swimming speed and developmental stage in larval zebrafish","volume":"12","author":"Van Leeuwen","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. R. Soc. Interface"},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C33","unstructured":"Van Meer, N. M. M. E.\n           (2024). Morphology and activity of swimming muscles in larval zebrafish. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Netherlands."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"517","DOI":"10.1111\/joa.14161","article-title":"Axial muscle-fibre orientations in larval zebrafish","volume":"246","author":"Van Meer","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Anat."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"jeb.250905","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.250905","article-title":"Axial muscle-fibre orientation in developing larval zebrafish","volume":"229","author":"Van Meer","year":"2026","journal-title":"J. Exp. Biol."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00519641","article-title":"Differentiation of the musculature of the teleost Brachydanio rerio. I. Myotome shape and movements in the embryo","volume":"145","author":"Van Raamsdonk","year":"1974","journal-title":"Z. Anat. Entwicklungsgeschichte"},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"353","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00185893","article-title":"Muscle growth and myosin isoform transitions during development of a small teleost fish, Poecilia reticulata (Peters) (Atheriniformes, Poeciliidae): a histochemical, immunohistochemical, ultrastructural and morphometric study","volume":"187","author":"Veggetti","year":"1993","journal-title":"Anat. Embryol."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"333","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00702480","article-title":"Influence of temperature on muscle-fibre development in larvae of the herring Clupea harengus","volume":"112","author":"Vieira","year":"1992","journal-title":"Mar. Biol."},{"key":"2026081304464797900_JEB251951C39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"jeb149583","DOI":"10.1242\/jeb.149583","article-title":"Biomechanics of swimming in developing larval fish","volume":"221","author":"Voesenek","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Exp. 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