Melatonin rhythms in the Australian freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni): a reptile lacking a pineal complex?

Abstract

The vertebrate pineal gland is the primary source of melatonin, the rhythmic secretion of which is influenced by environmental light and temperature, thereby providing animals with information about seasonally changing photoperiod and thermoperiod. Although pineal glands are present in the majority of vertebrate species, a discrete organ is reported to be absent in the Crocodilia. However, if the melatonin rhythm is crucial to the survival of the organism, it would be expected that the rhythm would be present in crocodiles. In the present study, we measured blood plasma melatonin over a 30-h period in aestivating Australian freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnstoni) in their natural habitat at the end of the dry season (November) and found no discernible melatonin rhythm. However, another group of captive-reared C. johnstoni, maintained under natural light and temperature cycles and sampled in the early dry season (June) showed a clear melatonin rhythm. These results suggest that there is either an extrapineal source of melatonin in this crocodile species or that there is melatonin producing tissue elsewhere which heretofore has not been discovered. Further studies are needed to determine why the melatonin rhythm is intermittently expressed and whether this may be related to seasonal changes in the expression of the rhythm linked to tropical environments.