Movement of Underyearling Walleyes in Response to Odor and Visual Cues

Abstract
Underyearling walleyes, allowed to move freely in a Y-shaped chamber into which various substances were added to one arm or another, were attracted to sodium chloride, sucrose, glutathione, vitamin B12, betaine, arginine, Daphnia slurries, some fish slurries, washings from live Daphnia and Artemia, and some commercial fish foods. They avoided cysteine, glycine, glycine-betaine, Artemia slurries, some fish slurries, and fish mucus; and showed little reaction to valeric and caproic acid, and some commercial fish foods. Tests of visual response, in which beakers containing live food organisms were placed in the arms of the chamber, indicated that walleyes respond strongly to the movement of food organisms. Walleyes usually surrounded the beakers containing live food organisms and repeatedly struck the glass. They were attracted more strongly to Artemia than to Daphnia. Results indicate that odor plays an important role in movement of walleyes to food and that there is a potential for attracting inte...