Vertical Responses of Atlantic Croaker to Gas Supersaturation and Temperature Change

Abstract

Vertical responses of juvenile Atlantic croakers (Micropogon undulatus) to acute supersaturation of nitrogen and oxygen and to changing temperature were observed in a 2.5-m-tall test cylinder supplied with flowing estuarine water. Supersaturation of nitrogen caused an initial upward movement of fish, although a compensatory downward response seemed to occur after 2–4 hours of exposure. Supersaturation of oxygen resulted in an almost immediate downward movement of fish. Abrupt upward displacement of fish followed water-temperature changes, especially increases. Similarities between the behavior of croakers in these experiments and the behavior of other physoclists after swim-bladder volume manipulation suggested that gas supersaturation caused the swim bladders of our fish to inflate, resulting first in upward drift and then in downward swimming to restore neutral buoyancy. A nonlinear response model incorporating this hypothesis accounted for 62% of the variation (over all experiments) in mean vertical displacement of the croakers. Supersaturation-induced inflation of the swim bladder may provide physoclistous fishes a direct mechanism for avoiding gas bubble disease by stimulating the fish to descend to a depth at which no gas has a relative saturation value greater than 100%.