Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-kw2vx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-03T00:16:52.391Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The role of the sensory systems of herring larvae in evading predatory fishes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J.H.S. Blaxter  and
L.A. Fuiman
J.H.S. Blaxter
Affiliation:
Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, PO Box 3, Oban, Argyll, PA34 4AD
L.A. Fuiman
Affiliation:
Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, PO Box 3, Oban, Argyll, PA34 4AD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Herring (Clupea harengus L.) larvae, ranging from 8–35 mm T.L. were subjected to predation by juvenile herring and sprats (Sprattus sprattus L.) ranging from 80–160 mm T.L. Responses to attacks and non-threatening encounters were recorded by a TV system operated with infra-red light, which was invisible to both predator and prey. Records were made in both light and dark with larvae before and after the otic bullae filled with gas, before and after lateral line canal formation, and before and after chemical ablation of the neuromasts with streptomycin.

Larvae often responded with a C-start, turning away from the stimulus source, both in dark and light. Attacks on larvae occurred only in the light. Responsiveness to attacks was very low in the smaller larvae but increased as the otic bulla filled with gas and the lateral line canal developed. Larger larvae responded more often to attacks than to non-threatening encounters with predators. Vision seems to inhibit unnecessary responses since responsiveness was lower in the light than the dark for non-threatening encounters. Response distances were generally short, only 2–4 cm, with no substantial differences associated with sensory capability.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 70 , Issue 2 , May 1990 , pp. 413 - 427
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1990

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

Bailey, K.M. & Houde, E.D., 1989. Predation on eggs and larvae of marine fishes and the recruitment problem. Advances in Marine Biology, 25,1–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batty, R.S., 1983. Observations of fish larvae in the dark with television and infra-red illumination. Marine Biology, 76,105–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batty, R.S., 1989. Escape responses of herring larvae to visual stimuli. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 69,647–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J.H.S. & Batty, R.S., 1985 a. The development of startle responses in herring larvae. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 65,737–750.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J.H.S. & Batty, R.S., 1985 b. Herring behaviour in the dark: responses to stationary and continuously vibrating obstacles. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 65, 1031–1049.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J.H.S. & Fuiman, L.A., 1989. Function of the free neuromasts of marine teleost larvae. In The Mechanosensory Lateral Line: Neurobiology and Evolution (ed. S., Coombset al.), pp. 481–499. New York: Springer Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J.H.S., Gray, J.A.B. & Best, A.C.G., 1983. Structure and development of the free neuro-masts and lateral line of the herring. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 63,247–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J.H.S. & Jones, M.P., 1967. The development of the retina and retinomotor responses in the herring. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 47,677–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brownell, C.L., 1985. Laboratory analysis of cannibalism by larvae of the Cape anchovy Engraulis capensis. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 114,512–518.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, J.L. & Pickett, D., 1988. Age-specific vulnerability of Pacific sardine Sardinops sagax larvae to predation by northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax. Fishery Bulletin. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, 86,163–167.Google Scholar
Cohen, A.C., 1961. Tables for maximum likelihood estimates: singly truncated and singly censored samples. Technometrics, 3,535–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Lafontaine, Y. & Leggett, W.C., 1987. Effect of container size on estimates of mortality and predation rates in experiments with macrozooplankton and larval fish. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 44,1534–1543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Lafontaine, Y. & Leggett, W.C., 1988. Predation by jellyfish on larval fish: an experimental evaluation employing in situ enclosures. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 45, 1173–1190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, E.J. & Blaxter, J.H.S., 1976. The mechanical relationships between the clupeid swimbladder, inner ear and lateral line. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 56, 787–807.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dill, L.M., 1974. The escape response of the zebra danio (Brachydanio rerio). I. The stimulus for escape. Animal Behaviour, 22, 711–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folkvord, A. & Hunter, J.R., 1986. Size-specific vulnerability of northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax larvae to predation by fishes. Fishery Bulletin. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, 84, 859–869.Google Scholar
Fuiman, L.A., 1989. Vulnerability of Atlantic herring larvae to predation by yearling herring. Marine Ecology - Progress Series, 51,291–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuiman, L.A. & Gamble, J.C., 1988. Predation by Atlantic herring, sprat and sandeels on herring larvae in large enclosures. Marine Ecology - Progress Series, 44,1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamble, J.C. & Fuiman, L.A., 1987. Evaluation of in situ enclosures during a study of the importance of starvation to the vulnerability of herring larvae to a piscine predator. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 113, 91–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemingway, E., 1932. Death in the Afternoon.Google Scholar
Hoss, D.E. & Blaxter, J.H.S., 1982. Development and function of the swimbladder - inner ear -lateral line system in the Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe). Journal of Fish Biology, 20,131–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, J.R., 1984. Inferences regarding predation on the early life stages of cod and other fishes. In The Propagation of Cod (ed. E., Dahlet al.), pp. 533–562. Fløodevigen Research Station, Arendal, Norway. [Flødevigen Rapportserie, vol. 1, no. 2.]Google Scholar
Janssen, J., 1982. Comparison of searching behaviour for zooplankton in an obligate planktivore, blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) and a facultative planktivore, bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 39,1649–1654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvenseth, P.G. & Øiestad, V., 1984. Large scale rearing of cod fry on the natural food production in an enclosed pond. In The Propagation of Cod (ed. E., Dahlet al.), pp. 645–655. Flødevigen Research Station, Arendal, Norway. [Flødevigen Rapportserie, vol. 1, no. 2.]Google Scholar
Miller, T.J., Crowder, L.B., Rice, J.A. & Marschall, E.A., 1988. Larval size and recruitment mechanisms in fishes: towards a conceptual framework. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 45,1657–1670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morita, S., 1985. History of the herring fishery and review of artificial propagation techniques for herring in Japan. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 42 (supplement 1), 222–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'connell, C.P., 1981. Development of organ systems in the northern anchovy, Engraulis mordax and other teleosts. American Zoologist, 21,429–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ware, D.M., 1973. Risk of epibenthic prey to predation by rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri). Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 30, 787–797.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, P.W., 1981. Responses of northern anchovy Engraulis mordax larvae to predation by a biting planktivore Amphiprion percula. Fishery Bulletin. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, 79, 727–753.Google Scholar
Weihs, D. & Webb, P.W., 1984. Optimal avoidance and evasion tactics in predator-prey interactions. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 106, 189–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, L, 1988. SYSTAT: the System for Statistics. Evanston, Illinois, USA: SYSTAT, Inc.Google Scholar
Zaret, T.M., 1980. The effect of prey motion on planktivore choice. In Evolution and Ecology of Zooplankton Communities (ed. W.C., Kerfoot), pp. 594–603. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England.Google Scholar