Behavioural and anatomical measures of visual acuity in first-feeding Yellowtail Kingfish (Seriola lalandi) larvae

Abstract

Ontogenetic change in the visual acuity of Seriola lalandi larvae was measured using both behavioural and anatomical techniques. Visual acuity improved over early development (day 4 to day 7 posthatch), although for all three larval ages examined estimates of anatomical acuity were consistently lower (higher acuity) than estimates of behavioural acuity. At hatching the eyes of larval kingfish were characterized by an undifferentiated retina surrounding a spherical lens, by day 4 post-hatch the eyes appeared to be functional, the retina was fully pigmented and the optic nerve had made contact with the optic tectum. Analysis of prey search behaviour indicated that larvae employ a saltatory type search behaviour in which brief stationary periods are interspersed with repositioning movements. The mean reactive angle increased between day 4 and day 7 post-hatch indicating that the horizontal visual field was expanding with development, thereby increasing the search area of larvae. Pre-strike distances of early larvae were substantially less than one body length, being constantly around a 1/3 of a body length for all larval ages examined.

Morphological development and allometric growth of yellowtail kingfishSeriola lalandiV. larvae under culture conditions

“…Eye pigmentation was reached 2 dph when the photoreceptor cell layers in the retina differentiated (Carton & Vaughan 2010). Eye pigmentation was reached 2 dph when the photoreceptor cell layers in the retina differentiated (Carton & Vaughan 2010).…”

“…Yellowtail kingfish larvae lack true fins during the two-first weeks of development, in contrast to the transparent primordial finfold without ossified or cartilaginous structures surrounding the body observed in most teleost fish larvae (Mart ınez-Lagos & Gracia-L opez 2009; Peña & Dumas 2009;C ßelik et al 2012;Van den Boogaart, Muller & Osse 2012). During the pre-flexion stage yellowtail develop a primordial finfold and display an anguilliform-like swimming mode with a S-shape body posture (described in detail for S. lalandi by Carton & Vaughan 2010). Thereafter, when larvae reach 8.12 AE 0.64 mm L S, the primordial finfold is resorbed and replaced by dorsal, caudal and anal fins.…”

“…At hatching, eyes of yellowtail kingfish larvae are non‐pigmented. Eye pigmentation was reached 2 dph when the photoreceptor cell layers in the retina differentiated (Carton & Vaughan ). Previous studies have observed that pigmentation of retina concomitant with a constant increase in eye diameter and ocular lens size results in a steady improvement of the visual acuity of larvae around the time of first‐feeding (Carton & Vaughan ).…”

Comparison of functional and anatomical estimations of visual acuity in two species of coral reef fish

“…Species found inhabiting open water can have much larger differences in acuity (for example, Lethrinus chrysostomus and Gymnocranuis bitorquatus: 19 and 27 cycles deg −1 , respectively) (Collin and Pettigrew, 1989). The visual acuity of fish has been measured using a range of behavioural (Brunner, 1934;Yamanouchi, 1956;Nakamura, 1968;Hodos and Yolen, 1976;Hairston et al, 1982;Neave, 1984;Pankhurst et al, 1993;Neumeyer, 2003b;Haug et al, 2010;Lee and O'Brian, 2011;Champ, 2012) and anatomical methods (Hodos and Yolen, 1976;Collin and Pettigrew, 1989;Fritsches et al, 2003;Matsuda et al, 2005Matsuda et al, , 2008Theiss et al, 2007;Litherland and Collin, 2008;Kino et al, 2009;Carton and Vaughan, 2010;Temple et al, 2010;Lee and O'Brian, 2011;Champ, 2012). However, because of the many differences in methodology, comparisons between studies are difficult.…”

The first-feeding response of larval southern bluefin tuna,Thunnus maccoyii(Castelnau, 1872), and yellowtail kingfish,Seriola lalandi(Valenciennes, 1833), to prey density, prey size and larval density

“…Due to the early stage of hatchery research, culture requirements for this species are not yet fully understood and high early larval mortalities have slowed commercialization. In comparison, several studies have described rearing conditions for S. lalandi (Benetti, Nakada, Shotton, Poortenaar, Tracy & Hutchinson 2005;Chen, Qin, Kumar, Hutchinson & Clarke 2006;Chen, Qin, Carragher, Clarke, Kumar & Hutchinson 2007;Hilton, Poortenaar & Sewell 2008;Carton & Vaughan 2010;Moran, Smith, Lee & Pether 2011;Woolley, Fielder & Qin 2014) and there are established aquaculture industries in Australia, Japan and New Zealand (Nakabo 1993;Nakada 2000;Poortenaar, Hooker & Sharp 2000;Kolkovski & Sakakura 2004;Benetti et al 2005). While S. lalandi larvae can be produced in relatively high numbers, poor swimbladder inflation and high deformity rates affect quality seed production restricting the commercial success of this species (Kolkovski & Sakakura 2004;Woolley et al 2014).…”