Equipped with high-speed, high-resolution video, scientists
have discovered important new information on how marine snail larvae swim, a
key behavior that determines individual dispersal and ultimately, survival.
Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
(WHOI) and Stony Brook University grew Atlantic slipper limpet larvae, which
are slightly larger than a grain of sand, and recorded microscopic video of
them swimming. In previous studies, it has been commonly thought that larvae
swim faster when they beat their hair-like cilia faster. However, this new
microscopic video and research shows that this is not the case.