THE EFFECT OF PHOTOPERIOD ON PLASMA-LEVELS OF MELANIN-CONCENTRATING HORMONE IN THE TROUT

The neurohypophysial melanin-concentrating hormone, MCH, plays a role in adaptive colour change in teleost fishes, inducing pallor when the fish is placed in pale-coloured surroundings. The present study shows that its plasma concentration, measured in groups of white-adapted fish, is not uniformly high throughout the day but follows a clear diurnal pattern. Over a 24 h cycle, plasma concentrations rise gradually during the morning to reach peak values around the middle of the photophase, after which they decline significantly before night. Lowest concentrations are observed during the dark period. This pattern was observed under a long photoperiod in summer and a short photoperiod in winter. The peak was shifted within a week of changing the onset of either light or dark. When dawn was delayed by 6 h for fish held on a long photoperiod, the usual morning rise in hormone titres was suppressed but, with the advent of light, hormone concentrations rose more rapidly than usual to reach peak values at about the normal time. If the dawn was advanced by 6 h for fish held under short photoperiod conditions, then peak concentrations were attained 6 h precociously. Fish from a long photoperiod placed in constant light showed a pattern of MCH release which approximated to the normal over the first 24 h period but plasma values then became raised and periodicity was no longer discernible. Plasma hormone concentrations were much reduced in trout kept in black coloured tanks in which nocturnal and daytime values differed, but significant differences during the photophase were not demonstrable. The results suggest that an illuminated white background can initiate the early morning release of MCH, and that an endogenous pacemaker underlies the pattern of MCH secretion.