Effects of photoperiod on daily activity rhythm of juvenile sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka)

Abstract

In nature, Apostichopus japonicus exhibits a behavioral characteristic of emerging at night and sheltering during the day. Hence, it was commonly believed that longer and darker light conditions are better for a population of A. japonicus. In aquaculture situations therefore, animals have commonly been cultured without lighting, especially during juvenile-hatching culture. However, how the length of darkness each day affects A. japonicus and what the mechanism is of behavioral response of A. japonicus to different photoperiods remain unclear, and are specifically addressed in this study. We applied nine photoperiod treatments (light:dark (LD) cycles at 0:24, 3:21, 6:18, 9:15, 12:12, 15:9, 18:6, 21:3, and 24:0 under 500 lx) to 60 individuals (29.73 ± 0.23 g) per treatment (with 3 replicates). The environmental conditions were set as: water temperature = 16.9 ± 0.3°C, dissolved oxygen>6.0 mg/L, ammonia<0.3 mg/L, pH = 7.8–8.2, and salinity = 30–32. Under experimental conditions of continuous darkness as well as continuous light, cyclic nocturnal activity patterns of A. japonicus (viz. the animals emerged and fed at night and sheltered during the day) were observed. However, they spent more and less time, respectively, moving and feeding under continuous darkness and continuous light, than those under a natural light cycle. Under photoperiods with 6–12 h of light, the animals showed one sheltering behavior transition and two emerging behavior transitions. These behavior transitions appeared to be governed by some internal physiological factors and induced by daily light variation. The behavior of the animals was significantly affected by different photoperiods, and the distribution rate (DR) of the animals emerging at “daytime” increased with lengthening “light time” (except for the LD 3:21 cycle). We also found that there was no significant difference in mean DR per day under LD cycles of 6:18, 9:15, 15:9, and 12:12. Mean DRs per day were significantly lower for these photoperiods, than for those under LD cycles of 0:24 and 3:21, and significantly higher than for those under LD cycles of 18:6, 21:3 and 24:0. These results imply that 6–15 h light per day were the similar photoperiods to natural sunlight. From the viewpoint of activity and feeding behaviors, these might be the optimal photoperiods for rearing A. japonicus.