Crayfish Behavior: The Effects of Light Deprivation

Xiomara De La Quintana, Keorra Harper, Chan Spaulding, Teresa Lee 

Agnes Scott College, Department of Biology

The impact of hormonal changes on overall behavior and mental wellbeing has been extensively studied in crayfish. Previous scientific literature has studied how the hormone serotonin affects the long-term behavioral traits of crayfish. It was found that crayfish with higher levels of serotonin display more aggressive and dominant behaviors than those with lower levels. However, past studies were conducted by injecting hormones into crayfish instead of observing how prolonged light deprivation will affect crayfish. This proposed study could contribute to how the external environment can alter how crayfish behave and interact with each other. This experiment attempts to observe crayfish for three weeks and explain how disrupted day and night cycles change crayfish’ most common and natural behavioral patterns. Crayfish are understood to be nocturnal models with complex behavioral activities and patterns. Thus, this study will observe crayfish under light manipulation to observe social interaction, territorial behavior, and burrowed patterns. In addition, this proposed experiment hypothesizes that cycle alterations will cause changes in the activity and common behavioral patterns, exploring a linkage between prolonged light deprivation and its effect on Crayfish behavioral patterns.