Thermoregulatory behavior and diel activity of yearling winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus (Walbaum)

Synopsis

Sixteen yearling winter flounder, tested individually for 3-day periods in electronic shuttleboxes, voluntarily occupied an 8–27°C range of temperature, with a modal final thermal preferendum of 18.5°C (mean 18.7°C, median 19°C, midpoint 17.5°C, s.d. 1.9°C, S _k + 0.33). The locomotor activity pattern of the yearling fish in the laboratory was markedly nocturnal, with mean hourly nocturnal activity exceeding mean hourly diurnal activity by a factor of 3.4. Maximum activity occurred at 0300 EST, minimum activity at 1400 EST. While activity generally increased with temperature, a local activity minimum occurred at 18.7°C, coinciding with the 24-hour mean final thermal preferendum. Comparison of these laboratory data with previously published field data suggest that behavioral responses to temperature and light play significant roles in determining age- and size-specific differences in seasonal depth stratification and onshore-offshore distributions in this species.