Printed in Great Britain NEUROETHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF FREELY SWIMMING APLYSIA BRASILIANA

Recently developed neurophysiological and behavioural techniques were used to study swimming in the marine gastropod Aplysia brasiliana. Aplysia swim by bilateral parapodial flapping with an anterior to posterior meta-chronal wave. Parapodial oscillations are measured from video records. Population recordings from nerves innervating the parapodia during normal swimming in intact Aplysia reveal synchronous phasic activity in large efferent units associated with parapodial opening. Isolated brain studies and stimu-lation of central pathways in intact animals suggest a central pattern generator. We conclude that the output of the neuronal oscillator that contiols parapodial flapping radiates synchronously from each pedal ganglion. The putative com-mand to swim originates within the cerebral ganglia