Daytime avoidance of chemosensory alarm cues by adult sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)
Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) avoid damage-released and predator chemosensory cues at night, but their response to these cues during the day is unknown. Here, we explored (i) whether sea lamprey avoid these cues during the day and (ii) the effect of water temperature on the avoidance of chemosensory alarm cues in two diurnal laboratory experiments. We hypothesized that daytime activity would be temperature-dependent and that only sea lamprey vulnerable to predation (i.e., not hiding) would behaviourally respond to chemosensory alarm cues. Ten groups of ten sea lamprey were exposed to one of a variety of potential chemosensory cues. The experiments were conducted over a range of temperatures to quantify the effect of temperature on avoidance behaviour. Consistent with our hypothesis, a higher proportion of animals were active during daytime as water temperature increased. Moving sea lamprey showed an avoidance response to 2-phenylethylamine (a compound found in mammalian urine) and human saliva once water temperatures had risen to mean (±SD) = 13.7 (±1.4) °C. Resting and hiding sea lamprey did not show an avoidance response to any of the experimental stimuli.
Citation Information
Publication Year | 2014 |
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Title | Daytime avoidance of chemosensory alarm cues by adult sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) |
Authors | Richard Di Rocco, Cowan Belanger, István Imre, Grant Brown, Nicholas S. Johnson |
Publication Type | Article |
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Series Title | Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |
Index ID | 70132327 |
Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |
USGS Organization | Great Lakes Science Center |