Bt. Bjornsson et al., Photoperiod regulation of plasma growth hormone levels during induced smoltification of underyearling Atlantic salmon, GEN C ENDOC, 119(1), 2000, pp. 17-25
Earlier studies have established that increased daylength increases plasma
growth hormone (GH) levels during spring smoltification of yearling Atlanti
c salmon. Recently, the Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry has started th
e production of underyearling ("summer") smolts. This involves fast juvenil
e growth on continuous light (24L), the transfer of juveniles over 8 cm in
length to short day (12L) for 6 weeks in the summer, followed by transfer t
o 24L for another 6 weeks before transfer to seawater in late October. Thre
e groups were studied in fresh water from July to the following May in orde
r to elucidate the GH response to this photoperiod manipulation: one group
was kept on 24L throughout (long-day group), while the other two groups wer
e exposed to short day from July 15th. Of these, one was brought back onto
long day on September Ist (winter group) while the other was kept on short
day (short-day group). Plasma GH levels of the long-day group were around 1
.6 ng/ml throughout the study. The short-day transfer suppressed GH levels
to 0.7 ng/ml within 2 weeks (short-day and winter groups). The long-day tra
nsfer (winter group) increased GH levels to 11 ng/ml within 3 weeks, and th
is elevation of GH levels was sustained for about 3 months, before declinin
g to pretreatment levels. The study demonstrates that underyearling Atlanti
c salmon react to increased daylength in a way similar to traditional yearl
ing smolts. It also demonstrates for the first time that decreased daylengt
h can suppress plasma GH levels in fish. It is concluded that winter photop
eriod manipulation causes an out-of-season initiation and completion of the
parr-smelt transformation of underyearling Atlantic salmon and that growth
hormone plays a major role in this process. (C) 2000 Academic Press.