Effects of Light and Turbidity on the Reactive Distance of Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

1976 ◽  
Vol 33 (12) ◽  
pp. 2845-2849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary L. Vinyard ◽  
W. John O’brien
Keyword(s):  
Lepomis Macrochirus ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Daphnia Pulex ◽  
Large Prey ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Fish Feeding ◽  
Turbid Waters ◽  
Reactive Distance ◽  
Light Intensities

Changes in the reactive distance of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) to various sizes of Daphnia pulex were measured at light intensities ranging from 0.70 to 215.3 lx (0.065–20.0 ft-c) and at turbidities ranging from 1 to 30 Jackson Turbidity Units (JTU). Both reduced illumination and increased turbidity caused substantial reduction in the reactive distance of bluegill for all prey sizes, and particularly for large prey. This result should be considered in efforts to determine fish feeding rates in lakes, and may be particularly relevant to vertically migrating zooplankton, or those inhabiting more turbid waters.

Sublethal Copper Effects on Bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus, Foraging Behavior

1989 ◽  
Vol 46 (11) ◽  
pp. 1977-1985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark B. Sandheinrich ◽  
Gary J. Atchison
Keyword(s):  
Foraging Behavior ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Lepomis Macrochirus ◽  
Daphnia Pulex ◽  
Quality Criteria ◽  
Handling Time ◽  
Water Quality Criteria ◽  
Reaction Distance ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Copper Effects

The effects of four copper concentrations (5 [control], 31, 180, 1710 μg L−1) on bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) foraging behavior were examined with two separate experiments; one experiment assessing copper effects on the reaction distance of bluegill to two sizes of untreated zooplankton and one assessing copper effects on the functional response of bluegill to untreated (five tests) and treated (five tests) invertebrate prey. Prey used in these experiments were: Daphnia pulex, D. magna (Cladocera), Hyalella azteca (Amphipoda), and two sizes of Enallagma sp. (Zygoptera). Copper had no effect on the reaction distance of fish to zooplankton. There was a significant negative dose-response relationship for consumption rates of all untreated prey but not of treated prey groups. Prey handling time for bluegill capturing treated and untreated prey increased significantly with copper concentration and was the most consistently sensitive parameter measured. Capture efficiency by bluegill, although altered by copper for some prey types, was not as consistent a measure of toxicant stress. This study suggests that mechanistic measures are valuable indicators of toxicant effects on fish feeding behavior and that copper concentrations near the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency water quality criteria (18–28 μ L−1) may alter food consumption and reduce growth of fish in the wild.

scholarly journals Dependence of feeding rates on body mass when food density is limiting to growth

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 1916-1922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett T. van Poorten ◽  
Carl J. Walters
Keyword(s):  
Growth Function ◽  
Food Density ◽  
Intake Rate ◽  
Von Bertalanffy ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Reactive Distance ◽  
Von Bertalanffy Growth Function ◽  
Feeding Trials ◽  
Food Intake Rate ◽  
Bioenergetics Models

Bioenergetics models are commonly used to predict effects of changes in metabolic rates and food availability on growth. However, food intake rate generally is assumed to vary as Wd, where d = 2/3, an assumption based on observations from feeding trials in laboratory studies. Further, the von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF) is specifically integrated using this assumption. We argue that when considered from an ecological perspective, d is highly uncertain, dependent on how swimming speed, reactive distance, and prey biomass varies ontogenetically with the growth of a predator. Incorrectly specifying d leads to incorrect predictions of consumption and metabolism, especially at younger ages that are typically under-sampled. Three alternate means of detecting departures from d = 2/3 are provided, the most promising of which involves fixing initial length of the generalized VBGF to the length at endogenous feeding and directly calculating von Bertalanffy parameters (L∞, K, t0). Using this approach, it may be possible to more accurately estimate consumption and metabolism and to characterize lifetime growth.

Effect of light intensity on feeding of striped trumpeter Latris lineata larvae

1998 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia M. Pankhurst ◽  
Pollyanna E. Hilder
Keyword(s):  
Light Intensity ◽  
Feeding Response ◽  
Ontogenetic Changes ◽  
Fish Feeding ◽  
First Feeding ◽  
Light Intensities ◽  
Latris Lineata ◽  
Striped Trumpeter ◽  
Dependent Behaviour ◽  
Effect Of Light

This study investigates the influence of light intensity on feeding of striped trumpeter larvae, correlating feeding responses with changes in morphology of the retina during growth. A pigmented single-cone retina had differentiated one day before first feeding, and rod precursor cells and double cones were visible in the retina on the 23rd, and 25th day after hatching, respectively. Feeding performance at four light intensities (0, 1, 30, 150 and 700 lux), revealed that striped trumpeter larvae are primarily dependent on vision, a light-dependent behaviour, to feed. The youngest larvae tested (15, 18 and 19 days of age) showed a poor feeding response at 1 lux (range 2–10%), but a 98–100% feeding response at 30, 50 and 700 lux. By 28 days of age, feeding behaviour had changed significantly, with 52% of fish now feeding at 1 lux, 100% of fish feeding at the intermediate light intensities of 30 and 150 lux, and only 62% of fish feeding at 700 lux. The apparent increased photopic sensitivity in 28-day-old fish may reflect increased areas for photon capture provided by double cones, or may reflect ontogenetic changes in cone spectral sensitivity.

Daily Feeding Rates of Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) Determined by a Refined Radioisotope Method

1974 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seppo E. Kolehmainen
Keyword(s):  
Lepomis Macrochirus ◽  
Elimination Rate ◽  
Daily Intake ◽  
Seasonal Fluctuation ◽  
Nonequilibrium State ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Fish Growth ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Radioisotope Method ◽  
Daily Feeding

The daily values of 137Cs intake by bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) from a small impoundment receiving low-level radioactive effluents were used to calculate the daily feeding rates of the fish. The calculations of 137Cs intake, for a nonequilibrium state, were based on fish growth, the seasonal fluctuation of 137Cs concentration in fish, and the temperature-elimination rate relationship. The feeding rates were obtained by dividing the daily intake of 137Cs by the concentration of 137Cs in the diet. The daily meal of bluegill varied from 0.8% of body weight in February to 3.2% in June with an annual mean of 1.75%. There was a positive correlation (r2 = 0.805) between the daily meal and the daily temperature. The ecological growth efficiency was 4.2% during the period from April to October.

Retinal structure relative to feeding in the rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (12) ◽  
pp. 2840-2846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Williamson ◽  
Allen Keast
Keyword(s):  
Feeding Habits ◽  
Lepomis Macrochirus ◽  
Visual Sensitivity ◽  
Visual Direction ◽  
Fish Feeding ◽  
Chironomid Larvae ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Rock Bass ◽  
Light Gathering ◽  
Ambloplites Rupestris

The morphology and organization of the retina of rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) were investigated relative to their feeding habits. Rock bass are primarily crepuscular benthic feeders (taking Anisoptera nymphs and crayfish), and bluegill are diurnal generalized predators of chironomid larvae, Cladocera, and Trichoptera. In individuals of equivalent body size, the rock bass was found to have a high-density area of double cone concentration (up to 18 000 cones/mm2) in the temporodorsal region of the retina. This indicates that the main visual direction for prey detection is below the horizontal plane. In the bluegill the distribution of photoreceptors is more even and the average value over much of the retina is 6000–7000/mm2, with accordingly greater intercone spacing. This is probably appropriate for a fish feeding throughout the water column under good light conditions. The eye of the rock bass is 20% greater in rostrocaudal diameter than that of bluegill of equivalent size, implying greater light-gathering capacity. Moreover, individual cones in the rock bass are larger in surface area. These features, and a greater degree of neural summation (with resultant high visual sensitivity), have been regarded as adaptations for feeding under dim light. Differences in diet and feeding behavior in these two species thus have a morphological basis.

Effect of Fish Size on the Reactive Distance of Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) Sunfish

1983 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Breck ◽  
Michael J. Gitter
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Lepomis Macrochirus ◽  
Behavioral Measure ◽  
Eye Lens ◽  
Fish Size ◽  
Size Classes ◽  
Reactive Distance ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Lens Diameter ◽  
Cone Density

We hypothesized that visual acuity in fishes and thus reactive distance should increase with fish size; visual acuity depends on eye lens diameter and cone density in the retina, and eye lens diameter increases with fish size. Though cone density declines in larger fish, we expected this effect to be relatively small. We tested this hypothesis for a behavioral measure of visual acuity, the reactive distance of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) sunfish to zooplankton prey, in aquaria (375 L) for fish from 27 to 162 mm standard length. Reactive distance increased nonlinearly with fish size; the rate of increase in reactive distance slows in larger fish. For fish of a given size, reactive distance was dependent on prey size, but visual angle measured from the fish eye was nearly constant. Whereas lens diameter and visual acuity increase with fish size in bluegills, the acuity of larger fish is less than expected from eye lens diameter alone. This is probably a result of cone density decreasing with fish size, as has been found for other fishes. The observed fish-size-dependent differences in reactive distance imply very large differences in visual volumes and encounter rates with prey among size-classes of bluegills. Habitat segregation among bluegill size-classes may prevent the intense intraspecific competition for prey that would be expected, in part, from the superior visual acuity of larger fish.Key words: foraging, reactive distance, size-class interactions, bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus; predation, visual acuity, zooplankton

Motivational Analysis of Fish Feeding

Behaviour ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 45 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 38-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Colgan
Keyword(s):  
Latin Square ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Gastric Volume ◽  
General Definition ◽  
Lepomis Gibbosus ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Fish Feeding ◽  
Response Measures ◽  
Feeding Bout

Abstracti. Problems and approaches in the analysis of the motivation (internal stimuli) of animal behaviour are reviewed and the nature and advantages of stimulus-response models in dealing with complex cases are discussed. 2. The data on the motivation of fish feeding are reviewed by considering the topics of homeostasis, deprivation and satiation, systemic need versus gastric volume, and preference and selectivity. 3. Based on these observations, a tentative model is proposed. In this model hunger is presumed to be determined jointly by the metabolic debt (systemic need) of the fish and the amount of food in the stomach (gastric volume), two parameters which are themselves affected by many physiological and ecological factors. For given environmental conditions hunger determines the probability that an encountered item is eaten and the interval between encounters. From these parameters monophagous encounter and feeding rates can be calculated. In the case of polyphagy the rates can be calculated provided the relative availabilities of the food types are known. 4. It is shown that the model clarifies several points in the literature and predicts certain response relations present, but apparently unrealized, in the published data. Further, the model makes a number of untested predictions. 5. Some of these predictions were tested and confirmed in a controlled experiment involving pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus), in individual aquaria, fed in a standard Latin square design with added control conditions. The fish were fed three different proportions of housefly adults and pupae after one or two days of deprivation. Food items were presented one at a time over a 30 minute feeding bout. The changes in behaviour following changes in deprivation and relative availability of food types were as predicted by the model. The key prediction that response measures would be related in a manner invariant over changes in the independent variables was also supported despite nonstationarities in several response measures. 6. The modelling approach, traditional drive theory, and the case study of fish hunger were used to develop a rigorous general definition of "drive" based on stimulus-invariant response relations. The preferred nature of such a concept for dealing with bodies of motivational data containing such relations is shown. The consequent overall possibilities of modelling diverse motivational systems are considered.

Prey Location Volume of a Planktivorous Fish: A New Measure of Prey Vulnerability

1981 ◽  
Vol 38 (10) ◽  
pp. 1264-1270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Luecke ◽  
W. John O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Lepomis Macrochirus ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Planktivorous Fish ◽  
Water Volume ◽  
Distance Measurements ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Reactive Distance ◽  
Prey Location ◽  
Three Dimensional Space

The probability that bluegills (sunfish) (Lepomis macrochirus) will locate prey varies with distance and position of the prey in three-dimensional space. Location ability is greatest in the hemisphere directly ahead of the fish. The probability that bluegills will locate prey declines steadily when prey are placed to the side, behind, or directly above or below the fish. Bluegills could locate prey farthest when placed slightly to the side of the area directly in front of the fish. Under all experimental conditions, fish could locate prey, at least some of the time, at distances considerably farther than suggested by reported reactive distance measurements, indicating that the water volume searched by bluegills has generally been underestimated.Key words: planktivorous fish, zooplankton, reactive distance, location volume, predator search

Enhanced gut fullness and an apparent shift in size selectivity by radiated shanny (Ulvaria subbifurcata) larvae in response to increased turbulence

1998 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F Dower ◽  
Pierre Pepin ◽  
William C Leggett
Keyword(s):  
Turbulent Velocity ◽  
Larval Feeding ◽  
Large Prey ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Size Selectivity ◽  
Prey Concentration ◽  
Feeding Success ◽  
High Turbulence ◽  
Apparent Shift ◽  
The Relationship

We studied the relationship between microscale turbulence and feeding success of larval radiated shanny (Ulvaria subbifurcata) in Conception Bay, Newfoundland, during a 3-week period in July-August 1995. Although previous studies had suggested that the relationship between turbulent velocity and larval feeding rates should be dome shaped, we found no evidence of such a functional relationship. Rather, differences in larval feeding success were evident only when days were grouped as either "high turbulence" or "low turbulence" on the basis of Richardson number. Feeding conditions (i.e., prey concentration and composition) were not significantly different on high- versus low-turbulence days. Nonetheless, U. subbifurcata larvae (3-14 mm standard length) contained significantly fewer items in their guts on high-turbulence days. These prey items, however, were (on average) significantly larger than those found in guts on low-turbulence days; the net result was that significantly greater volumes of food were found in larval guts on high-turbulence days. Turbulent velocity did not affect between-day variation in RNA:DNA ratios of the larvae. We suggest that what appears to be a shift in size selectivity by U. subbifurcata larvae under increased turbulence may result from larvae having a higher probability of capturing large prey under increasingly turbulent conditions.

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