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Rhythmic activity of fishes
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the less developed countries in the tropical and sub-tropical zones that know the real importance of freshwater fish production, even if the intricate biological and chemical webs are not understood. Which leads me to my one and only criticism of the book (and almost all others on freshwater fish ecology), namely, the almost total lack of comparative data from the tropical and sub-tropical freshwater ecosystems. Why do the freshwater fisheries biologists continue to ignore the comparative value of the tropical species? The highly adaptive physiology, fast growth and density tolerant behavior of the grass carp, the Chinese and Indian carps, the milkfish, the mullets, the tilapias, the catfish, the gouramies, to name but a handful of most ecologically efficient and productive species, must surely count for something in the science of freshwater biology. Although the data are perhaps not as good or as detailed as that for the freshwater fishes of Europe or North America, a great deal of good scientific information is available and has a bearing on most freshwater fish production hypotheses. It is a pity that it is overlooked yet again or, at the most, lightly touched on by this otherwise excellent volume. COLIN E. NASH (Seattle, Wash., U.S.A.)
RHYTHMIC ACTIVITY
IN FISH
Rhythmic Activity of Fishes. J.E. Thorpe (Editor). Academic Press, London, New York, N.Y., 1978, 312 pp., $11.50, ISBN o-12-690650-5. This book contains twenty review papers presented at the symposium on Rhythmic Activity in Fish, organized by the Fisheries Society of the British Isles and held at the University of Stirling, 4-S July 1977. The papers have been organized into four groups dealing with (1) Hormonal controls, (2) Behavioral and physiological rhythms, (3) Community relationships and (4) Methods and instumentation. In addition, there is an introductory paper by Karl Miiller on locomotor activity in fish in relation to abiotic and biotic oscillations in the environment and a paper summing up the symposium by John Blaxter. As this book deals with rhythms in fish in general, several papers are concerned with fish in the natural environment rather than cultured fish and these may be of only marginal interest to aquaculturists. Papers that are of particular relevance to fish culturists include the review by Rolland Billard and Bernard Breton on reproductive rhythms in fish and the paper by Horst Schwassmam on the factors responsible for the timing of spawning in Amazonian fishes. In the section on hormonal controls, Allan Matty discusses rhythms of pineal and pituitary gland activity and Tom Simpson describes rhythms in thyroid and interrenal gland activity in fish. Other papers of interest to fish culturists are those by Braithwaite and D. Simpson on sonar and electrical resistivity techniques for enumeration of migratory fish.
At the end of the book there is an intriguing list, by litle only, of thirty-six short papers that were read at the symposium. This includes for example, a paper by Atack et al. on “Feeding rhythms in rainbow trout in recirculation systems” and another by Htun-Han and Bye on “Photoperiod manipulations of maturation in dab and turbot”. It is a pity that one page abstracts of each of these papers could not have been included in the volume. Perhaps after future symposia the Fisheries Society will consider publishing summaries of the submitted papers in addition to the main presentations. Despite this deficiency, the book is a valuable compendium of papers describing the current state of knowledge on rhythms in fish from what must have been a most worthwhile conference EDWARD
M. DONALDSON
(West Vancouver,
B.C., Canada)
the less developed countries in the tropical and sub-tropical zones that know the real importance of freshwater fish production, even if the intricate biological and chemical webs are not understood. Which leads me to my one and only criticism of the book (and almost all others on freshwater fish ecology), namely, the almost total lack of comparative data from the tropical and sub-tropical freshwater ecosystems. Why do the freshwater fisheries biologists continue to ignore the comparative value of the tropical species? The highly adaptive physiology, fast growth and density tolerant behavior of the grass carp, the Chinese and Indian carps, the milkfish, the mullets, the tilapias, the catfish, the gouramies, to name but a handful of most ecologically efficient and productive species, must surely count for something in the science of freshwater biology. Although the data are perhaps not as good or as detailed as that for the freshwater fishes of Europe or North America, a great deal of good scientific information is available and has a bearing on most freshwater fish production hypotheses. It is a pity that it is overlooked yet again or, at the most, lightly touched on by this otherwise excellent volume. COLIN E. NASH (Seattle, Wash., U.S.A.)
RHYTHMIC ACTIVITY
IN FISH
Rhythmic Activity of Fishes. J.E. Thorpe (Editor). Academic Press, London, New York, N.Y., 1978, 312 pp., $11.50, ISBN o-12-690650-5. This book contains twenty review papers presented at the symposium on Rhythmic Activity in Fish, organized by the Fisheries Society of the British Isles and held at the University of Stirling, 4-S July 1977. The papers have been organized into four groups dealing with (1) Hormonal controls, (2) Behavioral and physiological rhythms, (3) Community relationships and (4) Methods and instumentation. In addition, there is an introductory paper by Karl Miiller on locomotor activity in fish in relation to abiotic and biotic oscillations in the environment and a paper summing up the symposium by John Blaxter. As this book deals with rhythms in fish in general, several papers are concerned with fish in the natural environment rather than cultured fish and these may be of only marginal interest to aquaculturists. Papers that are of particular relevance to fish culturists include the review by Rolland Billard and Bernard Breton on reproductive rhythms in fish and the paper by Horst Schwassmam on the factors responsible for the timing of spawning in Amazonian fishes. In the section on hormonal controls, Allan Matty discusses rhythms of pineal and pituitary gland activity and Tom Simpson describes rhythms in thyroid and interrenal gland activity in fish. Other papers of interest to fish culturists are those by Braithwaite and D. Simpson on sonar and electrical resistivity techniques for enumeration of migratory fish.
At the end of the book there is an intriguing list, by litle only, of thirty-six short papers that were read at the symposium. This includes for example, a paper by Atack et al. on “Feeding rhythms in rainbow trout in recirculation systems” and another by Htun-Han and Bye on “Photoperiod manipulations of maturation in dab and turbot”. It is a pity that one page abstracts of each of these papers could not have been included in the volume. Perhaps after future symposia the Fisheries Society will consider publishing summaries of the submitted papers in addition to the main presentations. Despite this deficiency, the book is a valuable compendium of papers describing the current state of knowledge on rhythms in fish from what must have been a most worthwhile conference EDWARD
M. DONALDSON
(West Vancouver,
B.C., Canada)