Animals vary considerably in size, shape, and physiological features across individuals, but yet achieve remarkably similar behavioral performances. We examined how animals compensate for morphophysiological variation by measuring the system dynamics of individual knifefish (Eigenmannia virescens) in a refuge tracking task. Kinematic measurements of Eigenmannia were used to generate individualized estimates of each fish’s locomotor plant and controller, revealing substantial variability between fish. To test the impact of this variability on behavioral performance, these models were used to perform simulated ‘brain transplants’—computationally swapping controllers and plants between individuals. We found that simulated closed-loop performance was robust to mismatch between plant and controller. This suggests that animals rely on feedback rather than precisely tuned neural controllers to compensate for morphophysiological variability.

Animals routinely use autogenous movement to regulate the information encoded by their sensory systems. Weakly electric fish use fore–aft movements to regulate visual and electrosensory feedback as they maintain position within a moving refuge. During refuge tracking, fish produce two categories of movements: smooth pursuit that is approximately linear in its relation to the movement of the refuge and ancillary active sensing movements that are nonlinear. We identified four categories of nonlinear movements which we termed scanning, wiggle, drift, and reset. To examine the relations between sensory cues and production of both linear smooth pursuit and nonlinear active sensing movements, we altered visual and electrosensory cues for refuge tracking and measured the fore–aft movements of the fish. Specifically, we altered the length and structure of the refuge and performed experiments with light and in complete darkness. Linear measures of tracking performance were better for shorter refuges (less than a body length) than longer ones (>1.5 body lengths). The magnitude of nonlinear active sensing movements was strongly modulated by light cues but also increased as a function of both longer refuge length and decreased features. Specifically, fish shifted swimming movements from smooth pursuit to scanning when tracking in dark conditions. Finally, fish appear to use nonlinear movements as an alternate tracking strategy in longer refuges: the fish may use more drifts and resets to avoid exiting the ends of the refuge.