![Medaka have been found to be active late at night, with high levels of courtship behavior between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University Nighthawks: Wild medaka actively court female fish in wee hours](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2025/nighthawks-wild-medaka.jpg)
Gazing animal conduct in a laboratory provides a managed surroundings, however those fashion organisms can behave otherwise within the wild. An Osaka Metropolitan College-led analysis staff that makes use of medaka within the lab has now clarified positive facets of the way those fish reside of their herbal surroundings.
Led via Dr. Yuki Kondo and Professor Satoshi Awata of the Graduate College of Science, the staff recorded video of untamed medaka of their river habitat to watch what is going on in a single day, from 9 p.m. to five a.m. The analysis has been printed in PLOS One.
The use of this photos taken over a three-day duration, they estimated the time of day when medaka spawn, discovering that they begin to spawn round nighttime. Laboratory experiments had in the past indicated that medaka spawned round one hour ahead of or after dawn.
![Medaka, small fish used as model organisms in the lab, are naturally found in freshwater streams. Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University Nighthawks: Wild medaka actively court female fish in wee hours](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2025/nighthawks-wild-medaka-1.jpg)
The staff additionally carried out an in depth research of medaka process patterns, watching a low degree of process from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. when many fish gave the impression to be resting. After nighttime, there used to be a upward thrust in process, particularly between 1 a.m. and three a.m.
Medaka men perceived to have two sorts of courtship conduct: chasing women folk and a courtship show of creating fast circles in entrance of the other intercourse. Those behaviors had been in particular prime between 2 a.m. and three a.m.
“Gazing animals within the wild is a precious supply of knowledge for working out their herbal way of living, knowledge that now not most effective deepens our working out of dwelling issues, but in addition is helping us to create extra relaxed environments for our fashion organisms within the laboratory,” Dr. Kondo defined.
“If animals can spend their lives within the lab in a herbal surroundings with little tension, we might be able to higher perceive their true nature, and extra correct laboratory analysis effects could be received.”
Professor Awata added, “This analysis is a superb instance of the significance of mixing laboratory analysis with box observations. We are hoping that it’ll additionally supply insights into the significance of elucidating the ecology of different fashion organisms of their herbal habitats.”
Additional information:
Medaka (Oryzias latipes) begin courtship and spawning overdue at evening: Insights from box observations, PLOS One (2025). DOI: 10.1371/magazine.pone.0318358
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Wild medaka fish display unexpected nighttime courtship rituals in herbal habitat (2025, February 12)
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