Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T20:57:06.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Monitoring the Vertical Movements and Light Responses of Herring and Plaice Larvae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J. H. S. Blaxter
J. H. S. Blaxter
Affiliation:
Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, Oban, Scotland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The movements of herring and plaice larvae of different age, from hatching to about 8 weeks old, were monitored at different levels in a vertical tube by means of matched pairs of thermistors controlled and ‘balanced’ by bridge circuits. Movement of larvae past the thermistors upset the balance and the resulting change in the circuit could be followed on a pen-recorder. Having established, by visual comparisons, the interpretation of the pen record, experiments could be performed over extended periods or at low light intensities when visual observations would have been tedious or impossible. The numbers of larvae present were shown by the number of spikes on the pen record per unit time, while a measure of their size or activity was given by the height of the spikes.

The light intensity could be altered by interposing neutral-density filters between an artificial light source and the surface of the tube. Alternatively, natural daylight could be beamed in by a mirror above the tube when placed by a window. Using artificial light, changes of very large intensity had little effect on the larvae until a critical level was reached (equivalent to the intensity at late dusk or early dawn) when a vertical migration took place. A similar vertical migration took place when the natural light at dusk was beamed in; many larvae then moved to the surface and remained there, apparently very active throughout the night untill the light increased at dawn. Vertical migration could be simulated in the laboratory at any time by imposing an artificial light-cycle of appropriate amplitude on the larvae.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , August 1973 , pp. 635 - 647
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blaxter, J. H. S., 1966. The effect of light intensity on the feeding ecology of herring. In: British Ecological Society Symposium no. 6, Light as an Ecological Factor (ed. R., Bainbridge, Evans, G. C. and Rackham, O.), pp. 393–409. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S., 1968 a. Rearing herring larvae to metamorphosis and beyond. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 48, 17–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S., 1968 b. Visual thresholds and spectral sensitivity of herring larvae. Journal of Experimental Biology, 48, 39–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S., 1969. Visual thresholds and spectral sensitivity of flatfish larvae. Journal of Experimental Biology, 51, 221–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S., 1972. Brightness discrimination in larvae of plaice and sole. Journal of Experi-mental Biology, 57, 693–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. & Staines, M., 1971. Food searching potential in marine fish larvae. In Fourth European Marine Biology Symposium, 14–20 September 1969 (ed. Crisp, D. J.), pp. 467–85. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bridger, J. P., 1958. On efficiency tests made with a modified Gulf III high-speed tow-net. Journal du Conseil, 23, 357–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, J., 1970. Juvenile saury pike (Scomberesox saurus Walb.), an example of ichthyoneuston. Journal du Conseil, 33, 245–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hempel, G. & Nellen, W., 1969. Ichthyoneuston in the North Sea and Baltic. Conseil Permanent International pour I'Exploration de la Mer, C.M. Papers and Reports, L 23, 14 pp. (mimeograph).Google Scholar
Hempel, G. & Weikert, H., 1972. The neuston of the subtropical and boreal North-eastern Atlantic Ocean. A review. Marine Biology, 13, 70–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusner, A. A. & Enright, J. T., 1966. Long-term activity recording in small aquatic animals. Science, 154, 532–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, J. R., 1972. Swimming and feeding behaviour of larval anchovy Engraulis mordax. Fishery Bulletin, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 70, 821–38.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, H. & Hempel, G., 1970. Experimental studies in feeding and food requirements of herring larvae (Clupea harengus L.). In Marine Food Chains (ed. Steele, J. H.), pp. 344–64. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.Google Scholar
Russell, F. S., 1926. The vertical distribution of marine macroplankton. III. Diurnal observations on the pelagic young of teleostean fishes in the Plymouth area. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 14, 387–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, F. S., 1928. The vertical distribution of marine macroplankton. VIII. Further observations on the diurnal behaviour of the pelagic young of teleostean fishes in the Plymouth area. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 15, 829–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryland, J. S., 1964. The feeding of plaice and sand-eel larvae in the southern North Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 44, 343–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelbourne, J. E., 1964. The artificial propagation of marine fish. Advances in Marine Biology, 2, 1–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, J. C, 1962. Distribution and survival of herring larvae (Clupea pallasi Valenciennes) in British Columbia waters. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 19, 735–810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodhead, P. M. J. & Woodhead, A. D., 1955. Reactions of herring larvae to light; a mechanism of vertical migration. Nature, London, 176, 349–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar