STUDIES ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF Neocaridina davidi VAR. RED WHEN EXPOSED TO DIFFERENT COLORED LIGHT SPECTRUMS

Freshwater shrimp farming has become a highly valuable business, with Asian countries being the biggest producers. Almost all ornamental shrimp are produced from aquaculture. Guaranteeing the well-being of these animals has the direct consequence of increasing production.

Two experiments were elaborated with the objective of studying the behaviour of Neocaridina davidi var. red when exposed to different coloured light spectrums.

In the first experiment, adult shrimp Neocaridina davidi var. red (n=120) were distributed in four tanks. Changes in behaviour when exposed to different colored light spectrums were studied during four weeks. Each of these tanks contained a group of fifteen shrimp and a different coloured LED light spectrum, white, blue, red and green. Every week different groups of fifteen shrimp were placed in each tank.

In the second experiment, adult shrimp Neocaridina davidi var. red (n=6) were distributed in four tanks. Changes in behavior when exposed to different colored light spectrums were studied during twenty days. Each of these tanks contained a group of fifteen shrimp and a different coloured LED light spectrum, white, blue, red and green. Every five days the LED lights were changed in each tank and the group of shrimp remained the same.

Significant differences (p<0,05) were found between the mean number of shrimp observed in each light spectrum used in both experiments. These results indicate that the light spectrum used influences Neocaridina davidi var. red's behavior, having preference for a light in the visible spectrum corresponding to the colour red.

This work was supported by Project UID/CVT/276/2013 (CIISA)