Recently we collected about 25 sunfishes represented by red-spotted, warmouth, and some mixture of western dollar and the sympatric longear which is not western. Many as collected where small enough (<0.75 inches) that we could not beyond belonging to the genus Lepomis. They are currently 1 week into a 40 day quarantine where they are held in a bare-bottom 40-gallon breeder aquarium supplied with supplemental aeration and a constant flow of make-up water resulting in residence time of about 3 hours. Make-up water is from a well resulting in quarantine temperature being about 17 Celsius. This temperature is much lower than we typically use for quarantine and is all that is available for this effort. The fish are being fed to excess with live freshly hatched nauplii so are in good nutritional status. What is particularly noteworthy is how much of the time they hang stationary in the water column. Same fish at warmer temperatures would be much more active and inclined to be aggressive to each other.
Another interesting note is that when fish where being counted into the quarantine tank we noticed the dollar / longear sunfish where the only fish inclined to jump.
Behavior in Relatively Cold Water
Started by
Guest_centrarchid_*
, Mar 25 2014 09:30 AM
8 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_gerald_*
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Posted 25 March 2014 - 11:29 AM
Besides the low temp and abundant food, maybe the bare surroundings are affecting their behavior. No place to hide; no structure to explore.
#3
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 25 March 2014 - 11:35 AM
I too have observed that temperature affects activity. I feel like that's common knowledge, though, right? Ask anybody who's gone fishing with a rod in January and July.
#4
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 25 March 2014 - 11:37 AM
Possible but most of our sunfish are held in bare bottomed tanks. Occasionally they have been same species. During winter we can see bluegill and crappie doing similar off dock around cages and floating raceways.
#5
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 25 March 2014 - 11:39 AM
The impacts are qualitative. I am loaded with common knowledge, this still interesting.
#6
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 25 March 2014 - 12:06 PM
There are computer programs that can analyze animal movement. I've read journal articles where they are used to quantify movement in rat water mazes. You put a video camera overhead pointing down. It records what happens. You put the rat into the pool and it swims around for a while before it finds the platform. The computer program then analyzes the distance it traveled before finding the platform. They use it for memory tests. You could use it to quantify movement in high and low temperature situations.
https://sleep.med.harvard.edu/research/labs/74/laboratory+of+neuroscience
https://sleep.med.harvard.edu/research/labs/74/laboratory+of+neuroscience
#7
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
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Posted 25 March 2014 - 12:10 PM
Also, you might be interested in these articles, if you have access to the journals (I don't).
Comp Biochem Physiol A Comp Physiol. 1972 Jul 1;42(3):803-5.
The effect of changes in ambient temperature on spontaneous activity in skipjack tuna.
Stevens ED, Fry FE.
http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/4404273
Fed Proc. 1947;6(1 Pt 2):213.
Temperature selection and the effects of light and temperature on movements in fish.
SULLIVAN CM, FISHER KC.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/20244265
Comp Biochem Physiol A Comp Physiol. 1972 Jul 1;42(3):803-5.
The effect of changes in ambient temperature on spontaneous activity in skipjack tuna.
Stevens ED, Fry FE.
http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/4404273
Fed Proc. 1947;6(1 Pt 2):213.
Temperature selection and the effects of light and temperature on movements in fish.
SULLIVAN CM, FISHER KC.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/20244265
#8
Guest_centrarchid_*
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Posted 25 March 2014 - 12:23 PM
Erica I have seen some of those articles in the past. Still makes wander why they do what they do and how might we benefit from it. The tracking idea is very interesting. The home range problem we think we are seeing might be manageable to reduce variation in growth stemming from variation in feed intake.
#9
Guest_FirstChAoS_*
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Posted 25 March 2014 - 01:05 PM
I tend to stop collecting when cold weather hits so have little experience with it, but the few fish I seen from very cold conditions (northern red belly dace and redbreast sunfish) had unusually dark coloration. I am not sure if that is to absorb heat, or just to camoflage them after vegetation dies.
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