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Out of sight, out of mind: mechanisms of social choice in fish

R. Ayoub,Eric Armstrong,N. Miller

Published 2019 in Animal Behaviour

ABSTRACT

The costs and benefits that come from being part of a group have most often been categorized by their adaptive function, such as reducing predation risk or increasing foraging competition. However, collective behaviours may also be characterized by several different behavioural mechanisms. For example, individuals may have a relatively fixed attraction to any group, as well as being able to flexibly use the information they derive from observing the group to make choices. We label these two mechanisms ‘fixed’ and ‘informational’. In most situations, both mechanisms encourage group cohesion. Here, we placed fixed and informational mechanisms in conflict by training zebrafish, Danio rerio, to move away from or ignore a conspecific group in order to find food. Fish failed to learn the task when the group was visible to them while making their choice, but they were able to learn the task when the group was visually obscured. Fish trained to approach the group to find food were able to learn to do so under both conditions. Our results suggest that fish exhibit a prepotent group-joining response, even when this is potentially maladaptive – a type of conformity. This response can be inhibited under certain conditions, such as when the group is not immediately visible.

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