Responses to ultraviolet radiation in larval pike, Esox lucius, of two origins and ages

Abstract

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR)-induced mortality and behavioural disorder were studied in larval northern pike of two origins and ages. Newly hatched larvae of two differently coloured populations and six-day-old larvae of one population were exposed to four fluence rates of UVR, resulting in total doses from 11.5 to 63 kJ m–2, and monitored for mortality and behaviour. The rate of mortality and the severity of behavioural disorder differed by origin and age of the animals, but the effect was fluence-rate dependent. Total melanin concentration of newly hatched larvae was measured to assess if sensitivity to UVR correlated with pigmentation, but no differences in melanin concentration between larvae from different origins were found.