Cambomba tops closing up?

[Samzter]

I was hungry so i went to go get a late night snack. And on my way to the kitchen I stopped by my tank. I looked at the cambomba ( pretty sure I spelt it wrong) and the tops of the stems had all closed up? They were fine the next morning I'm guessing they just do it at night. Does anyone know what I mean?

 

[Khuligirl93]

I think that is common for some plants, my ludwigia did the same thing

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

All my stem plants do that too at night. It's like a defense mechanism to be less exposed at night since there's no need to have the leaves out to collect light for photosynthesis.

Edit: has something to do with nyctinasty and plants' ability to measure photoperiod based on circadian rhythms.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyctinasty

 

[Samzter]

Thanks a lot guys! I was thinking that its pretty amazing to be able to do that!

 

[Rivercats]

I actually set the lights on timers in my 220g so the high light metal halides kick off but the lower light T5HO's are on for an hour afterwards. As soon as the halides turn off all the stem plants, which are a few hundred in the 220, start closing up. By the time the T5HO's kick off the plants are all closed up for the night. I actually like to watch them do that sometimes.