The growth of goldfish in homotypically conditioned water; a population study in mass physiology

Abstract

Problems involved with the efYects of self contamination of the containing water upon various phases of physiology, especially on growth of aquatic organisms, have been worked upon f o r almost 90 years. The general results obtained, together with many details, havc been summarized elscwhcre (Allec, '31, '34, '38). The first of this experimental work was iipon snails (Hogg, 1854) ; experimentalists soon became interested in various phases of crowding in connection with experimental populations of fish and for obvious reasons this interest has tended to increase.With fish, as with most other animals studied, it is relatively easy t o demonstrate various retarding effects of a high degree of self contamination and here, as elsewhere, the more elusive problem has been to find the opposite type of result, if any, from smaller amounts of such homotypic conditioning. Five reports of investigations dealing with different aspects of this problem have becn issued from this laboratory (Shaw, '32 ; Allee, Bowmi, Welty and Oesting, '34; Allee, Oesting and Hoskins, '36 ; Evans, '36 ; Livengood, '37). The present report is a direct continuation of the second and third of these papers.The 1934 paper reported the results of thirteen comparable expwiments with young goldfish (Carassius auratus) in which 177 goldfish in water which had been conditioned by having other goldfish live in it, showed a mean increase in length ofWe are indebted to Mr. Wayne Livengood for permission to use unpublished data from experiments performed by him while he was working in this laboratory. 417

Socializing makes thick-skinned individuals: on the density of epidermal alarm substance cells in cyprinid fish, the crucian carp (Carassius carassius)

“…Because the volume of water was adjusted to the number of fish in each container, i.e. with 5 l of water per fish, and feed ratio was adjusted in a similar fashion, a chemical factor similar to the previous one reported (Allee et al 1934(Allee et al , 1940 may have been acting among the group-raised fish. Such growth factors may have induced better growth and a thicker epidermis in the group-raised fish.…”

“…Differences in growth between isolated and grouped fish have been reported in immature goldfish that, when raised singly, grew better if their rearing water were conditioned with water taken from aquaria containing groups of conspecific fish (Allee et al 1934(Allee et al , 1940. The phenomenon was denoted 'mass physiology', and growth promoting factors released by conspecifics were suspected to be the cause of improved growth.…”

Retinal pigmented epithelium does not transdifferentiate in adult goldfish

“…4 to 5 cm in body length. were obtained from Ozark Fisheries (Richland, MO), and were kept at 18 to 20 C in 10 gallon aquaria in artificial pond water (0.06 g/l calcium chloride, 0.05 g/l magnesium sulfate, 0.05 g/l potassium sulfate, and 0.05 g/l sodium nitrate in distilled water) (Allee et al, 1940). Fish were kept in the dark for at least 12 h prior to surgery to facilitate removal ofthe neural retina from the RPE.…”

Movement of retinal terminals in goldfish optic tectum predicted by analysis of neuronal proliferation

“…Adult goldfish obtained from Ozark Fisheries (Stoutland, MO) were spawned in the laboratory, and the embryos were maintained as described previously (Raymond, 1985). Larval fish were reared in artificial pond water (Allee et al, 1940) and fed live nauplii of brine shrimp (Artemia). Beginning about 1 month after hatching, the diet was supulemented with finely around Purina Trout Chow.…”