Green Light Stimulates Somatic Growth in the Barfin Flounder Verasper moseri

We examined the effects of different light wavelengths-blue, green, and red-on the somatic growth of the barfin flounder Verasper moseri, a flatfish. The light sources used were fluorescent lamps and a combination of daylight and fluorescent lamps that produced ambient light. These light sources were filtered using blue, green, or red filters. During the experiments, the fish were reared in indoor tanks with running seawater of natural temperature and fed with commercial pellets twice daily until satiety. The tanks were white in color. Fish were exposed to constant light emitted from the fluorescent lamps ( 9:15, light: dark; 08:00-17:00, light) for 14 weeks from October or September to January or to ambient light with a 14-week natural photoperiod from September to December. The wavelengths that were filtered from the fluorescent lamp light modified the growth of the fish, i.e., fish reared under green or blue light exhibited a greater total length (TL; P < 0.01) and body weight (BW; P < 0.01) than those reared under red light. In contrast, in the case of fish exposed to filtered ambient light, fish reared under green light exhibited a greater TL (P < 0.01) and BW (P < 0.01) than fish exposed to other wavelengths-blue-, red-, and nonfiltered ambient light. Our results indicate that flounder growth was modified by certain wavelengths, namely, green and red light, which had growth-stimulating and growth-inhibiting effects, respectively. J. Exp. Zool. 311A:73-79, 2009. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.