Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-t6hkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T09:22:23.175Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparisons of herring behaviour in the light and dark: changes in activity and responses to sound

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J. H. S. Blaxter  and
R. S. Batty
J. H. S. Blaxter
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffhage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll, Scotland PA34 4AD
R. S. Batty
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffhage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll, Scotland PA34 4AD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Comparisons of the behaviour of herring (Clupea harengus L.) were made in the light and dark by means of an infra-red sensitive TV system and video recording. Herring which were schooling in the light became less active in the dark, their swimming speed decreased, they tended to disperse and the proportion of gliding compared with swimming fish increased. Herring which were not schooling in the light increased their swimming speed in the dark.

When subjected to transient sound stimuli herring made fast-startle responses. The proportion of fish responding was lower in the dark. The directionality of the response (the proportion turning away from the sound source) was the same in the light and dark suggesting there was no visual component in the response.

The proportion of swimming and gliding fish affected both response rate and directionality. Gliding fish tended to have a higher response rate and better directionality than swimming fish, although this depended on the conditions of the experiment. The configuration of the body of swimming fish at the onset of a transient sound stimulus was important. Of the swimming fish, over 80% of the responders turned away from the direction in which the tip of the caudal fin was pointing at the onset of the stimulus. Gliding fish are in a better ‘neutral’ posture to initiate a startle response and to turn away from the sound source.

Comparisons of awareness (sensory thresholds) in the light and dark using startle responses are complicated by differences in the numbers of gliding and swimming fish.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 67 , Issue 4 , November 1987 , pp. 849 - 859
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1987

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

REFERENCES

Barham, E. G., 1970. Deep-sea fishes; lethargy and vertical orientation. In Proceedings of International Symposium on Biological Sound Scattering in the Ocean (ed. Farquhar, G. B.), 100–118. Washington: Department of the Navy.Google Scholar
Batty, R. S., Blaxter, J. H. S. & Libby, D. A., 1986. Herring (Clupea harengus) filter-feeding the dark. Marine Biology, 91, 371–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beach, M. H., 1978. The use of infra-red light and closed circuit TV to validate records from automatic fish counters. Journal of Fish Biology, 13, 639–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S., 1970. Light: animals: fishes. In Marine Ecology, vol. 1, part 1 (ed. O, Kinne), pp. 213–320. London: Wiley Interscience.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. & Batty, R. S., 1985 a. Herring behaviour in the dark: responses to stationary and continuously vibrating obstacles. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the Kingdom, 65, 1031–1049.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. & Batty, R. S., 1985 b. 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., Gray, J. A. B. & Denton, E. J., 1981. Sound and startle responses in herring shoals. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 61, 851–869.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. & Holliday, F. G. T., 1963. The behaviour and physiology of herring and other clupeids. Advances in Marine Biology, 1, 261–393.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. & Hoss, D. E., 1981. Startle response in herring: the effect of sound stimulus frequency, size of fish and selective interference with the acoustico-lateralis system. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 61., 871–879.Google Scholar
Blaxter, J. H. S. & Hunter, J. R., 1982. The biology of the clupeoid fishes. Advances in Marine Biology, 20, 1–223.Google Scholar
Craig, R. E. & Priestley, R., 1961. Photographic studies offish populations. Nature, London, 188, 333–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foote, K. G. – Ona, E., 1987. Tilt angles of schooling penned saithe. Journal du Conseil, 43, 118–121.Google Scholar
Hobson, E. S., 1968. Predatory behavior of some shore fishes in the Gulf of California. Research Report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, no. 73, 92 pp.Google Scholar
Mantel, N. & Haenszel, W., 1959. Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 22, 719–748.Google Scholar
Marshall, N. B., 1972. Sleep in fishes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 65, 177.Google Scholar
Meredith, G., 1985. The distinctive central utricular projections in the herring. Neuroscience Letters, 5, 191–196.Google Scholar
Partridge, B. L. & Pitcher, T. J., 1980. The sensory basis offish schools: relative roles of lateral line and vision. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 135, 315–325.Google Scholar
Pitcher, T., 1979. Sensory information and the organization of behaviour in a schooling cyprinid fish. Animal Behaviour, 27, 126–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radakov, D. V., 1960. Observations on herring during a voyage of research submarine ‘Severyanka’. Byulleten’ Okeanograficheskôi komisii, 6, 39–40. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Radakov, D. V. & Solovyev, B. S., 1959. A first attempt at using a submarine for observations on the behaviour of herring. Rӯbnoe khozyaistvo, 35(7), 16–21. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Shapiro, C. M. & Hepburn, H. R., 1976. Sleep in a schooling fish Tilapia mossambica. Physiology and Behavior, 16, 613–615.Google Scholar
Woodhead, P. M. J., 1966. The behaviour offish in relation to light in the sea. Oceanography and Marine Biology, an Annual Review, 4, 337–403.Google Scholar