Premium
Species‐specific attraction of migratory banded kokopu juveniles to adult pheromones
Author(s) -
Baker C. F.,
Montgomery J. C.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.2001.tb02281.x
Subject(s) - biology , attraction , sex pheromone , juvenile , pheromone , zoology , ecology , habitat , philosophy , linguistics
Juvenile migratory Galaxias fasciatus juveniles or whitebait were attracted to odours produced by adults. The attraction was dependent on concentration with an upstream movement and attraction to the odour chamber at intermediate level concentrations. At a high concentration the migratory response of whitebait was retarded with the majority of fish not moving upstream but remaining in the lower section of the apparatus. There was no response to odours from adults of other galaxiid species, the inanga G. maculatus or koaro G. brevipinnis at any concentration. These results demonstrate G. fasciatus whitebait have the ability to discriminate species‐specific pheromones during their migratory phase, providing evidence of a pheromonal attraction in migratory amphidromous fish which could possibly provide a basis for effective habitat selection.