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Circadian rhythms in the respiration of eight species of cardinal fishes (Pisces: Apogonidae): comparative analysis and adaptive significance

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Abstract

A comparative study was made of the entrained (12:12 LD) and endogenous (DD) respiratory rhythms of 8 species of cardinal fishes. Volumetric respirometers, designed specifically for long-term measurements of oxygen uptake by small fishes under controlled conditions, were used during standard 5 day experiments. Despite some individual variation, certain species-specific and genus-specific patterns of respiration emerged. Each species showed a persistant (advancing) rhythm of oxygen consumption during 3 days of DD. Light appeared to be the “Zeitgeber”, with the light-dark transition phasing the nocturnal peaks and the dark-light transition possibly phasing the diurnal ones. Genus-specific and species-specific trends in field behavior, habitat selection, and distribution were studied. There were correlations between the field behavior and the entrained respiratory rhythms of these nocturnally active fishes. Entrained and endogenous rhythms of each species showed characteristic similarities and were interpreted as integral components of a level of organization evolved for nocturnal life in the shallow marine environment.

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  1. R. J. Livingston

    Present address: Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA

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    Communicated by J. Bunt, Miami

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    Livingston, R.J. Circadian rhythms in the respiration of eight species of cardinal fishes (Pisces: Apogonidae): comparative analysis and adaptive significance. Marine Biology 9, 253–266 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00351388

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