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Entrainment of the circadian rhythm of food demand by infradian cycles of light-dark alternation in Hoplosternum littorale (Teleostei)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 1991

Thierry Boujard
Affiliation:
INRA, Hydrobiologie, BP 709, 97387 Kourou Cedex, France Present address: INRA Hydrobiologie, BP 3, 64310 Ascain, France
Yann Moreau
Affiliation:
INRA, Hydrobiologie, BP 709, 97387 Kourou Cedex, France
Pierre Luquet
Affiliation:
INRA, Hydrobiologie, BP 709, 97387 Kourou Cedex, France
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Abstract

Hoplosterum littorale (Hancock, 1828) shows a marked circadian rhythm of food demand. Feeding activity is mainly nocturnal, with two peaks, and is synchronized with the diel light cycle. We tested the effect of infradian (period >28 h) light/dark cycles on this rhythm in fish with demand-feeders: fish subjected to a 13.5 L/22.5 D light/dark cycle for 8 days and a 25.5 L/10.5 D cycle for a further 8 days showed a strictly nocturnal feeding activity, a response that only passively reflected the cyclic alternation of light and dark.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© IFREMER-Gauthier-Villars, 1991

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