Lecture 12 Fish Behavior

1. Reproduction

2. Migration

3. Symbiosis

4. Predation
 Behavioral ecology
Selection keeps a watchful
eye
organisms behave in
ways that maximize their
fitness
 Parental care
Some form of defense or manipulation of eggs or young

90 families include species that provide care

31% Biparental care, 69% uniparental care

most common caregiver male

External fertilizers 89%, Internal fertilizers 11%

External: 90% male care
Internal: 86% female care

Male care likely evolved to insure no other males

fertilize eggs
 Hermaphrodites
Why change sex?

Increased fitness
change sex when, at a given size, the reproductive
success of the other gender becomes higher

females limited by number of gametes produced,

males limited by number of matings
sex change theory predicts it best to be male when
small and female when large

However, sex change also depends on ecologies of

individual species
 Protogynous Hermaphrodites
- almost universal in wrasses (Labridae) Female

Juvenile

Male
 Fixed Action Patterns
Fixed Action Patterns: stereotypical innate
behavior. The organism will carry it out
almost no matter what, even if it doesnt
seem appropriate.

Three-spined stickleback
Gasterosteus aculeatus
 Fixed Action Patterns
Male three spined stickleback: attacks other
males with red bellies attacks anything red
 Learning & Cognition

Change in behavior based on experience

e.g., Habituation, Imprinting, Conditioning:
Pavlov

Cognition
The connection between nervous system
function and behavior
Consciousness and awareness
Use of a rock as an anvil
Coyer, 1995

Halichoeres garnoti
Yellowhead wrasse
Tool Use in Fishes

Orange-dotted tuskfish
Choerodon anchorago
Learning in Archerfish
 Migration

Spatial orientation and mapping

Migration: Piloting, orientation
(directional headings), navigation
(relative location)
Environmental cues in migration
(magnetic, light, etc..)
 Daily Migration
The deep scattering layer
Migration
complex migration patterns
Spawning migration
Migration
Tagging Great White Sharks
 http://topp.org/features/fab_flight_white_shark

A white shark tagged with both acoustic (front) and pop-up satellite (rear) tags.
The acoustic tag is detected when the shark swims within 250 m of a listening
station, while the pop-up satellite tag records information about location,
temperature and depth and relays it to the laboratory when the tag releases
itself from the shark.
Weng et al. 2007
 White Sharks by the Season

Weng et al. 2007

 Symbiosis

- interspecific interactions

Fish - Fish

Fish - Invertebrates

Fish - Other vertebrates

 Symbiosis Fish-Fish

Trumpetfish / herbivores
 Symbiosis Fish-Fish

Grouper (serranid) and Moray team up

Symbiosis Fish-Fish
Alternative Strategies
Symbiosis Fish- Inverts

Clownfishes / Anemones
Pearlfishes and their hosts
 Goby
and
Ghost Shrimp
Symbiosis Fish-other vertebrates
Symbiosis Fish-other vertebrates
 Predation

Two different categories of predators have evolved

Speed to overtake prey

Minimal aerobic effort deceptive tactics

The Need for Speed

Over take prey with speed

 Predation
lie and wait sometimes involves deception
 Predation
lie and wait sometimes involves deception

Cichlid, nimbochromis livingstonii, playing dead