Influence of Light and Temperature on the Reproductive Cycle of the Eastern Brook Trout, Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill)

Abstract

Brook trout were exposed to photoperiods ranging from 4 to 20 hours per day and were held either at 8.5 °C or at 16°. The average diameter of the ova was used as an index of ovarian development while testicular maturation was determined from histological preparations.The gonadal cycles of both male and female trout were markedly affected by different photoperiodic regimes. The influence of long or short photoperiods depends upon the phase of gametogenesis in progress at the time and on the photoperiod in effect during earlier stages of the gonadal cycle. Evidence is presented which suggests that the maturation cycle of the gonads may be regulated by the normal seasonal changes of day length.An accelerated light regime can hasten the time of functional maturity in adult trout, but is without effect when applied to maturing fish in which gametogenesis is taking place for the first time. It is suggested that a stimulative effect of environmental factors is dependent upon maturation of the hypothalamic-hypophyseal mechanism.The rate of gonadal development is the same at 16° as it is at 8.5° provided the fish are exposed to natural day lengths. If fish are subjected to long or to short photoperiods, the gonadal response at 16° is quite different from that at 8.5°.