Role of water flow regime in the swimming behaviour and escape performance of a schooling fish

Biology Open

Lauren E. Nadler¹  Mark I. McCormick¹  Paolo Domenici²  Shaun S. Killen³ 

[1] ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia;CNR-IAMC, Istituto per l'Ambiente Marino Costiero, Localita Sa Mardini, Torregrande, 09170, Oristano, Italy;Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, United Kingdom;

关键词: Schooling behaviour;    Fast-start behaviour;    Anaerobic capacity;    Habitat;    Escape response;    Plasticity;   

DOI  :  10.1242/bio.031997

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Animals are exposed to variable and rapidly changing environmental flow conditions, such as wind in terrestrial habitats and currents in aquatic systems. For fishes, previous work suggests that individuals exhibit flow-induced changes in aerobic swimming performance. Yet, no one has examined whether similar plasticity is found in fast-start escape responses, which are modulated by anaerobic swimming performance, sensory stimuli and neural control. In this study, we used fish from wild schools of the tropical damselfish Chromis viridis from shallow reefs surrounding Lizard Island in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The flow regime at each site was measured to ascertain differences in mean water flow speed and its temporal variability. Swimming and escape behaviour in fish schools were video-recorded in a laminar-flow swim tunnel. Though each school's swimming behaviour (i.e. alignment and cohesion) was not associated with local flow conditions, traits linked with fast-start performance (particularly turning rate and the distance travelled with the response) were significantly greater in individuals from high-flow habitats. This stronger performance may occur due to a number of mechanisms, such as an in situ training effect or greater selection pressure for faster performance phenotypes in areas with high flow speed. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

【 授权许可】

Unknown