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<br />602 <br /> <br />BULKLEY AND PIMENTEL <br /> <br />the disease were not tested during disease treat- <br />ment or for 21 days thereafter . We do not <br />believe, therefore, that disease altered re- <br />sponses to temperature. The flow-through tanks <br />were supplied with dechlorinated water. Dis- <br />solved oxygen was maintained in the tanks at <br />90-100% saturation; ammonia was below 0.2 <br />mg/liter and pH was about 8.0. <br />Temperature preference and avoidance were <br />determined with an electronic shuttlebox de- <br />signed by Neill et al. (1972) and adapted by <br />McCauley et al. (1977) to use heated and chilled <br />inflowing water instead of submerged heaters. <br />This device was a 45-liter plexiglass chamber of <br />two compartments connected by a narrow pas- <br />sageway. Temperature differences in the two <br />chambers did not exceed 1 C under test con- <br />ditions. Individual fish were able to regulate <br />water temperature by triggering photocells <br />controlling flows of warm and cold water at the <br />rate of 0.7 -0.8 liter/minute. Fish movement in <br />one direction triggered flow of warm water into <br />the compartment entered and turned off cold <br />water in the compartment left; movement in <br />the opposite direction turned off the warm <br />water, and turned on cold water when the "cold" <br />compartment was entered. The apparatus was <br />capable of providing a range of temperature <br />from 4 to 41 C in the shuttlebox; maximum <br />rate of change was 0.2 C/minute. Water tem- <br />perature was monitored by a continuously re- <br />cording Honeywell Model 602C 1 D-34-7 5 ther- <br />mograph with a precision of :t 1 C. Photoperiod <br />was the same as in acclimation tanks and was <br />maintained by an overhead 60-watt light bulb. <br />Fish were placed in the shuttle box that had been <br />filled with water from their acclimation tank <br />(same temperature); the photocells had been <br />deactivated. After the fish had habituated to the <br />apparatus for 1 hour, the photocells were ac- <br />tivated, allowing either warm or cold water to <br />enter the shuttlebox, depending on which side <br />the fish was in at the time of activation, After <br />48 hours of testing the fish was removed, re- <br />turned to the holding tank, and observed for <br />another 24 hours. Fish that died during the 48- <br />hour test or recovery period were excluded from <br />analysis of temperature preference and avoid- <br />ance. At least 19 fish from each acclimation <br />temperature were tested in the shuttlebox. <br />The initial 24-hour period was used to esti- <br />mate temperatures avoided by each fish because <br />most fish exposed themselves to the highest and <br /> <br />lowest temperatures experienced during the <br />whole test period shortly after they were placed <br />in the shuttlebox. Activity appeared to be di- <br />rected toward avoidance of undesirable tem- <br />peratures when fish first were placed in the shut- <br />tlebox. Later, as length of time in the apparatus <br />increased, the activity was directed into an in- <br />creasingly narrow temperature range as the fi- <br />nal preferendum was sought out. Hence, we <br />examined data collected during this orientation <br />period to estimate upper and lower avoidance <br />temperatures, and to compare ability among <br />groups to gravitate toward a final preferendum. <br />A voidance temperature has been measured di- <br />rectly by providing fish a choice of water warm- <br />er or cooler than that to which they have been <br />acclimated (for example, Meldrim and Gift 1971; <br />Cherry et al. 1975). When a fish demonstrates <br />active avoidance, that temperature is assumed <br />to be the avoidance temperature. In a sense, the <br />shuttlebox provides a similar situation during <br />the first few hours a fish is in the box. When a <br />fish experiences a high temperature that is pre- <br />sumably unsatisfactory, for example, it moves <br />away from the flow of warm water and triggers <br />the photocells, thereby provoking an immedi- <br />ate decrease of 0.2 C/minute in water temper- <br />ature within the chamber. The reverse occurs <br />when an individual finds itself in water presum- <br />ably colder than desired. It is possible that in-. <br />dividual fish in our tests might not have re- <br />sponded immediately when temperature <br />reached a point that would normally elicit an <br />avoidance response, but the same behavior could <br />occur in the two-choice apparatus also, <br />Neill and Magnuson (1974) used the elec- <br />tronic shuttlebox to estimate avoidance in terms <br />of median upper and lower turnaround tem- <br />peratures, temperatures at either side of the <br />box that, when reached, were abandoned by <br />thermoregulating fish. Our method, based on <br />the extreme temperatures experienced by fish <br />during their first 24 hours in the shuttlebox, is <br />not analogous to theirs and probably provides <br />a wider range of acceptable temperatures. We <br />prefer our method as a basis of design criteria <br />for new water-control structures but the rela- <br />tionship between our method and others used <br />to estimate avoidance temperature needs to be <br />investigated. <br />Upper and lower avoidance temperatures for <br />each acclimation group were the mean highest <br />or lowest temperatures experienced by individ- <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />.. <br />. <br /> <br />I <br />