Expression of a reflex biting/snapping response to amino acids prior to first exogenous feeding in salmonid alevins.

Five days prior to first exogenous feeding, amino acid stimuli released reflexive biting/snapping behavior in alevins of both rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). The biting/snapping responses of salmonid larvae, which obtain nutrients solely from their yolk sacs, were videotaped during presentations of amino acids that are potent olfactory and taste stimuli to adult rainbow trout. The tested salmonid alevins possessed developed eyes and olfactory and taste organs several days prior to the start of spontaneous swimming and exogenous feeding. Five days prior to the first occurrence of complex feeding behavior, L-proline and L-alanine, which released swimming, turning, and biting/snapping (exaggerated biting) behaviors in adult rainbow trout, triggered reflexive biting/snapping behavior in the alevins of rainbow and brook trout, but did not induce swimming. In contrast, L-proline released vigorous swimming, but not biting/snapping activity in alevins of the European freshwater huchen (Hucho huncho), another salmonid species. Unlike in adult rainbow trout where visual and olfactory stimuli control all the successive behavior patterns of feeding behavior, taste stimuli released in alevins of rainbow and brook trout the early biting/snapping reflex independently from the complex feeding behavior. The independent biting/snapping reflex of rainbow and brook trout alevins ceased at the onset of spontaneous swimming activity several hours prior to the first exogenous feeding.