The Influence of Light on the Twilight Migrations of Grunts
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1979
Keywords
behavior reversal, behavioral precision, body color patterns, fish migration, predation, quiet period, retinal photomechanical movements, schooling
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005923
Abstract
Behaviors that precede the daily migrations of mixed-species schools of juvenile grunts (Pomadasyidae), from patch reefs to grass beds at dusk and vice versa at dawn, are defined and utilized to ascertain the precision of the migrations. Although premigratory behaviors differ at dusk and dawn, the migrations are precise twilight events which occur at the same light intensities during dawn and dusk. Histological sections of the retina reveal that both cones and rods are fully exposed to ambient light during the migrations. Under the difficult photic conditions that prevail during migration, the retina is structured photomechanically to maximize the absorption of ambient light. Body colorations of the grunts, which consist mostly of intense colored stripes during the day, are replaced at night by cryptic melanic patterns. The precision of migration, the photomechanical movements in the retina, and the changes in body coloration are considered adaptive because they reduce predation on grunts when they migrate and are most vulnerable to attack. In support of this conclusion, the migrations take place just before the evening and just after the morning 'quiet period' - thus they avoid that period during twilight when predation is highest in tropical fish communities.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
No
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Environmental Biology of Fishes, v. 4, issue 1, p. 9-22
Scholar Commons Citation
McFarland, William N.; Ogden, John C.; and Lythgoe, John N., "The Influence of Light on the Twilight Migrations of Grunts" (1979). Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications. 405.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/bin_facpub/405
