Kazuki Matsushige, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyushu University, and Kitakyushu Municipal Research Institute, have found that Japanese eels tend not to actively seek food immediately after sunset in places where artificial lighting is installed near water such as rivers and agricultural irrigation canals. It was discovered by a research team led by Yusuke Hibino, a curator at the Museum of Natural History and History.The research team believes that lighting interferes with the feeding of eels.
According to Kyushu University, the research team statistically analyzed 15 eels caught by curator Hibino at 16 waterfront locations 17 to 49 years ago, 124 times, and found out whether the waterfront had strong lighting or not. I compared the catch of the place.
As a result, in places without lights, eels were frequently caught until about two hours after sunset, but in places with lights, eels could not be caught until the lights were turned off, and eels were caught later in the day. wasFurthermore, in areas where traps were set up to catch eels hidden in pipes, catches were obtained regardless of whether the lights were on or off.
Eels are nocturnal and are known to actively forage immediately after sunset in nature.The research team believes that eels are less likely to actively seek food due to lighting installed along waterfronts and a reduction in places where they can hide, and that the results of this study will help protect the endangered eels.
Paper information:[Environmental Biology of Fishes] The effects of artificial light at night on the foraging activity of Japanese eels: implications of recreational fishing data
