Photoperiod affects light/dark preference and exploratory behaviour in noble crayfish (Astacus astacus), IAA 2016

Thomas Abeel, Inge Platteaux, Ella Roelant, Jurgen Adriaen, Hilde Vervaecke

Odisee University College, Ethology and Animal Welfare, Hospitaalstraat 23, 9100 Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. E-mail: thomas.abeel@odisee.be

Artificial day-night cycles are known to affect crayfish growth, behaviour and physiological stress levels in aquaculture. Based on the protocol by Fossat et al. (2015), who validated decreased exploratory behaviour and raised photophobia as stress-induced anxiety-like behaviours in Procambarus clarkii, we evaluated the effect of different photoperiods on noble crayfish activity and light/dark preference in an aquatic plus maze. We kept 135 two-summer-old crayfish in a recirculating aquaculture system and exposed them to five different photoperiods: hours light/dark (L:D) 0:24, 8:16, 12:12, 16:8 and 24:0. All animals had access to brushes and PVC pipes as shelters. After 144 days, the crayfish were submitted to the plus maze test. During a ten minute period, each individual’s location was scored every five seconds. Exploratory behaviour was assessed by quantifying the number of movements between different locations in the maze. Light/dark preference was determined by the time spent in the dark or lit arms. A linear mixed model for the different outcomes was fitted using tank as a random intercept and treatment as a fixed effect. Crayfish kept in 24L showed a higher amount of movements (43.6±4.3 mean±stdev) than individuals from all other treatments (ranging from 30.9±2.4 in L16:D8 down to 23.3±3.3 in L12:D12, p=0.0004). They also spent more time in the lit arms of the maze (43.40±1.74%) than animals from the 24D treatment (25.07±4.22%) (p=0.040). These results show that continuous light stimulates exploratory behaviour and continuous darkness causes more neophobia towards lit areas.


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