Diet manipulation affects social behavior of catfish : Importance of body odor

Physiology, endocrinology and chemical communication in aggressive behaviour of fishes

Fishes show remarkably diverse aggressive behaviour. Aggression is expressed to secure resources; adjusting aggression levels according to context is key to avoid negative consequences for fitness and survival. Nonetheless, despite its importance, the physiological basis of aggression in fishes is still poorly understood. Several reports suggest hormonal modulation of aggression, particularly by androgens, but contradictory studies have been published. Studies exploring the role of chemical communication in aggressive behaviour are also scant, and the pheromones involved remain to be unequivocally characterized. This is surprising as chemical communication is the most ancient form of information exchange and plays a variety of other roles in fishes. Furthermore, the study of chemical communication and aggression is relevant at the evolutionary, ecological and economic levels. A few pioneering studies support the hypothesis that aggressive behaviour, at least in some teleosts, is modulated by "dominance pheromones" that reflect the social status of the sender, but there is little information on the identity of the compounds involved. This review aims to provide a global view of aggressive behaviour in fishes and its underlying physiological mechanisms including the involvement of chemical communication, and discusses the potential use of dominance pheromones to improve fish welfare. Methodological considerations and future research directions are also outlined.

No evidence for individual recognition in threespine or ninespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus or Pungitius pungitius)

Recognition plays an important role in the formation and organization of animal groups. Many animals are capable of class-level recognition, discriminating, for example, on the basis of species, kinship or familiarity. Individual recognition requires that animals recognize distinct cues, and learn to associate these with the specific individual from which they are derived. In this study, we asked whether sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus and Pungitius pungitius) were capable of learning to recognize individual conspecifics. We have used these fish as model organisms for studying selective social learning, and demonstrating a capacity for individual recognition in these species would provide an exciting opportunity for studying how biases for copying specific individuals shape the dynamics of information transmission. To test for individual recognition, we trained subjects to associate green illumination with the provision of a food reward close to one of two conspecifics, and, for comparison, one of two physical landmarks. Both species were capable of recognizing the rewarded landmark, but neither showed a preference for associating with the rewarded conspecific. Our study provides no evidence for individual recognition in either species. We speculate that the fission-fusion structure of their social groups may not favour a capacity for individual recognition.

Theory and Application of Semiochemicals in Nuisance Fish Control

Controlling unwanted, or nuisance, fishes is becoming an increasingly urgent issue with few obvious solutions. Because fish rely heavily on semiochemicals, or chemical compounds that convey information between and within species, to mediate aspects of their life histories, these compounds are increasingly being considered as an option to help control wild fish. Possible uses of semiochemicals include measuring their presence in water to estimate population size, adding them to traps to count or remove specific species of fish, adding them to waterways to manipulate large-scale movement patterns, and saturating the environment with synthesized semiochemicals to disrupt responses to the natural cue. These applications may be especially appropriate for pheromones, chemical signals that pass between members of same species and which also have extreme specificity and potency. Alarm cues, compounds released by injured fish, and cues released by potential predators also could function as repellents and be especially useful if paired with pheromonal attractants in "push-pull" configurations. Approximately half a dozen attractive pheromones now have been partially identified in fish, and those for the sea lamprey and the common carp have been tested in the field with modest success. Alarm and predator cues for sea lamprey also have been tested in the laboratory and field with some success. Success has been hampered by our incomplete understanding of chemical identity, a lack of synthesized compounds, the fact that laboratory bioassays do not always reflect natural environments, and the relative difficulty of conducting trials on wild fishes because of short field seasons and regulatory requirements. Nevertheless, workers continue efforts to identify pheromones because of the great potential elucidated by insect control and the fact that few tools are available to control nuisance fish. Approaches developed for nuisance fish also could be applied to valued fishes, which suffer from a lack of powerful management tools.

Familiarity affects social network structure and discovery of prey patch locations in foraging stickleback shoals

Numerous factors affect the fine-scale social structure of animal groups, but it is unclear how important such factors are in determining how individuals encounter resources. Familiarity affects shoal choice and structure in many social fishes. Here, we show that familiarity between shoal members of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) affects both fine-scale social organization and the discovery of resources. Social network analysis revealed that sticklebacks remained closer to familiar than to unfamiliar individuals within the same shoal. Network-based diffusion analysis revealed that there was a strong untransmitted social effect on patch discovery, with individuals tending to discover a task sooner if a familiar individual from their group had previously done so than if an unfamiliar fish had done so. However, in contrast to the effect of familiarity, the frequency with which individuals had previously associated with one another had no effect upon the likelihood of prey patch discovery. This may have been due to the influence of fish on one another's movements; the effect of familiarity on discovery of an empty ‘control’ patch was as strong as for discovery of an actual prey patch. Our results demonstrate that factors affecting fine-scale social interactions can also influence how individuals encounter and exploit resources.

Phosphatidylcholine profile-mediated group recognition in catfish

Animal groups are integrated by emission of discrete signals from members, so-called social signals, which have evolved for each species. Among communication signals, chemical signals play an important role for recognition of group membership. The catfish Plotosus lineatus forms a dense school immediately after hatching, and school recognition is under the control of chemical signals emitted by the school members. The key substance(s) governing this recognition are deduced to be a mixture of phosphatidylcholines (PC). To substantiate this hypothesis that a mixture of PC molecular species functions as recognition of school-specific odor, we examined the ability of P. lineatus to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar PCs. P. lineatus responded only to PCs from a familiar school, and not to those from unfamiliar schools. PC molecular species were then analyzed by quantitative high performance liquid chromatography, which resulted in not only a complex mixture of PC molecular species, but also school-specific PC profiles. Furthermore, multivariate analysis of the quantified PC peaks revealed the presence of various PC profiles. Finally, we showed that the modification of PC profiles disrupts the recognition of school odor in P. lineatus. Therefore, we conclude that the recognition of school odor in P. lineatus is governed by school-specific PC profiles.

Social recognition in wild fish populations

The ability of animals to gather information about their social and physical environment is essential for their ecological function. Odour cues are an important component of this information gathering across taxa. Recent laboratory studies have revealed the importance of flexible chemical cues in facilitating social recognition of fishes. These cues are known to be mediated by recent habitat experience and fishes are attracted to individuals that smell like themselves. However, to be relevant to wild populations, where animals may move and forage freely, these cues would have to be temporally flexible and allow spatial resolution. Here, we present data from a study of social recognition in wild populations of three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Focal fish preferentially associated with conspecifics from the same habitat as themselves. These preferences were changed and updated following translocation of the focal fish to a different site. Further investigation revealed that association preferences changed after 3 h of exposure to different habitat cues. In addition to temporal flexibility, the cues also allowed a high degree of spatial resolution: fish taken from sites 200 m apart produced cues that were sufficiently different to enable the focal fish to discriminate and associate with fish captured near their own home site. The adaptive benefits of this social recognition mechanism remain unclear, though they may allow fish to orient within their social environment and gain current local information.

Effect of dietary cues on kin discrimination of juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)

Several salmonid species can discriminate kin from non-kin using recognition cues. These are known to involve both genetic and environmental components. This study examined the effect of diet, an environmental cue, on kin discrimination in juvenile Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar L., 1758) and brook trout ( Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill, 1814)). Juveniles were reared in kin and non-kin groups. Three different diets were fed to three kin groups and three non-kin groups. Juveniles were then tested for their ability to discriminate kin. We found that juveniles discriminated individuals between kin and non-kin when they shared a common diet with kin, but did not do so when kin were fed a different diet. Moreover, we predicted that diet and genotype together would provide stronger cues than sharing either dietary cues or genetic cues. When the juveniles were given a choice between kin fed the same diet and kin fed a different diet, they did not show a consistent preference for the former. However, in the absence of kinship, juveniles preferred cues from a common diet, i.e., they preferred cue water conditioned by non-kin sharing a common diet than cue water from non-kin fed a different diet. Our results show that dietary cues affect kin discrimination in juvenile Atlantic salmon and brook trout and provide the first empirical evidence for the influence of diet on kin discrimination in salmonids. The functional explanation of these results is that the preferences in kin discrimination are likely context dependent.