Almost total replacement of fish meal by plant protein sources in the diet of a marine teleost, the European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax

In many fish species, some individuals arediurnal while others are nocturnal. Sometimes,the same individual can be diurnal at first andthen switch to nocturnalism, or vice-versa.This review examines the factors that areassociated with such plasticity. It covers thebreakdown of activity rhythms during migration,spawning, and the parental phase; reversals ofactivity patterns during ontogeny or from oneseason to the next; effects of light intensity,temperature, predation risk, shoal size, foodavailability, and intraspecific competition.Case studies featuring goldfish (Carassiusauratus), golden shiner (Notemigonuscrysoleucas), lake chub (Couesiusplumbeus), salmonids, sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), and parentalsticklebacks and cichlids illustrate some ofthese influences. It is argued that mostspecies have a circadian system but that havingsuch a system does not necessarily imply strictdiurnalism or nocturnalism. Rigidity ofactivity phase seems more common in species,mostly marine, that display behavioral sleep,and for these animals the circadian clock canhelp maintain the integrity of the sleepperiod and ensure that its occurrence takes place atthat time of day to which the animal's sensoryequipment is not as well adapted. However, inother fishes, mostly from freshwater habitats,the circadian clock seems to be used mainly foranticipation of daily events such as thearrival of day, night, or food, and possiblyfor other abilities such as time-place learningand sun compass orientation, rather than forstrict control of activity phase. In thesespecies, various considerations relating toforaging success and predation risk maydetermine whether the animal is diurnal ornocturnal at any particular time and place.

Plasticity of diel and circadian activity rhythms in fishes

Energy requirements, utilization and dietary supply to salmonids

Effect of chronic ammonia exposure on growth of European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) juveniles

The nocturnal versus diurnal feeding patterns of sea bass under controlled experimental conditions were studied in order to investigate the existence of such a dualistic feeding behavior. The animals (six groups of 4 animals and 8 single fish) were held in tanks filled with recirculating salt water and installed in a "chronolab" under constant conditions (23.5 °C and 2.4% salinity). The fish were given access to self-demand feeders and first exposed to a photoperiod regime of 12:12 (12 h light, 70 lx, and 12 h dark, complete darkness) and then to light:dark (LD) pulses (40 min light, 40 min dark). The LD 12:12 cycle was reversed by doubling the light period in day 16, and reversed again in day 27 by doubling the dark period. The circadian rhythm of food demand was strongly synchronized with the LD cycle, and fish exhibited both diurnal and nocturnal patterns. In most fish, the shift of the feeding rhythm to the new LD cycle was very fast for each reversal (bringing forward or delaying their feeds 12 h), i...

Xavier Dugy

Papers

Description of a modular, low cost, eater meter for the study of feeding behavior and food preferences in fish.