Disentangling and modeling interactions in fish with burst-and-coast swimming reveal distinct alignment and attraction behaviors

The development of tracking methods for automatically quantifying individual behavior and social interactions in animal groups has open up new perspectives for building quantitative and predictive models of collective behavior. In this work, we combine extensive data analyses with a modeling approach to measure, disentangle, and reconstruct the actual functional form of interactions involved in the coordination of swimming in Rummy-nose tetra (Hemigrammus rhodostomus). This species of fish performs burst-and-coast swimming behavior that consists of sudden heading changes combined with brief accelerations followed by quasi-passive, straight decelerations. We quantify the spontaneous stochastic behavior of a fish and the interactions that govern wall avoidance and the reaction to a neighboring fish, the latter by exploiting general symmetry constraints for the interactions. In contrast with previous experimental works, we find that both attraction and alignment behaviors control the reaction of fish to a neighbor. We then exploit these results to build a model of spontaneous burst-and-coast swimming and interactions of fish, with all parameters being estimated or directly measured from experiments. This model quantitatively reproduces the key features of the motion and spatial distributions observed in experiments with a single fish and with two fish. This demonstrates the power of our method that exploits large amounts of data for disentangling and fully characterizing the interactions that govern collective behaviors in animals groups.

• Publication year

  2017

• Venue

  PLoS Comput. Biol.

• Publication date

  2017-03-10

• Fields of study

  Biology, Physics, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005933arXiv 1703.03801PMID 29324853PMCID 5783427
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• How predation shapes the social interaction rules of shoaling fish

  2017cited by this paper
• Model of Collective Fish Behavior with Hydrodynamic Interactions.

  2017cited by this paper
• Hydrodynamic interactions influence fish collective behavior

  2017cited by this paper
• Large-Scale Patterns in a Minimal Cognitive Flocking Model: Incidental Leaders, Nematic Patterns, and Aggregates.

  2016cited by this paper
• Understanding how animal groups achieve coordinated movement

  2016cited by this paper
• Shared decision-making drives collective movement in wild baboons

  2015cited by this paper
• Run-and-tumble dynamics of self-propelled particles in confinement

  2015cited by this paper
• A stochastic vision-based model inspired by zebrafish collective behaviour in heterogeneous environments

  2015cited by this paper
• Intermittent collective dynamics emerge from conflicting imperatives in sheep herds

  2015cited by this paper
• A jump persistent turning walker to model zebrafish locomotion

  2015cited by this paper
• A real-time 3D video tracking system for monitoring primate groups.

  2014cited by this paper
• Automated image-based tracking and its application in ecology.

  2014cited by this paper
• Automated identification of social interaction criteria in Drosophila melanogaster

  2014cited by this paper
• Filling an emulsion drop with motile bacteria.

  2014cited by this paper
• Nonequilibrium equation of state in suspensions of active colloids

  2014cited by this paper
• idTracker: tracking individuals in a group by automatic identification of unmarked animals

  2014cited by this paper
• Living in Groups

  2013cited by this paper
• Living Crystals of Light-Activated Colloidal Surfers

  2013cited by this paper
• Ionic effects in self-propelled Pt-coated Janus swimmers.

  2013cited by this paper
• Emergence of macroscopic directed motion in populations of motile colloids

  2013cited by this paper
• Swarming, schooling, milling: phase diagram of a data-driven fish school model

  2013cited by this paper
• Collective Behaviour without Collective Order in Wild Swarms of Midges

  2013cited by this paper
• Collective States, Multistability and Transitional Behavior in Schooling Fish

  2013cited by this paper
• Social interactions dominate speed control in poising natural flocks near criticality

  2013cited by this paper
• High-order social interactions in groups of mice

  2013cited by this paper
• Selfish-herd behaviour of sheep under threat.

  2012cited by this paper
• Dynamic clustering in active colloidal suspensions with chemical signaling.

  2012cited by this paper
• Deciphering Interactions in Moving Animal Groups

  2012influential reference
• Visual attention and the acquisition of information in human crowds

  2012cited by this paper
• Computerized video analysis of social interactions in mice

  2012cited by this paper
• From behavioural analyses to models of collective motion in fish schools

  2012cited by this paper
• How simple rules determine pedestrian behavior and crowd disasters

  2011cited by this paper
• Active Brownian motion tunable by light

  2011cited by this paper
• Collective Animal Behavior

  2011cited by this paper
• Swarming behavior of simple model squirmers

  2011cited by this paper
• Inferring the structure and dynamics of interactions in schooling fish

  2011cited by this paper
• Inferring the rules of interaction of shoaling fish

  2011cited by this paper
• Sedimentation and effective temperature of active colloidal suspensions.

  2010cited by this paper
• Hierarchical group dynamics in pigeon flocks

  2010cited by this paper
• Hydrodynamics of sperm cells near surfaces.

  2010cited by this paper
• Inferring individual rules from collective behavior

  2010cited by this paper
• Collective motion of vibrated polar disks.

  2010cited by this paper
• Sedimentation, trapping, and rectification of dilute bacteria

  2009cited by this paper
• High-throughput Ethomics in Large Groups of Drosophila

  2009cited by this paper
• Analyzing fish movement as a persistent turning walker

  2009cited by this paper
• Janus particles.

  2008cited by this paper
• Collective behavior in animal groups: Theoretical models and empirical studies

  2008cited by this paper
• Self-motile colloidal particles: from directed propulsion to random walk.

  2007cited by this paper
• Interaction ruling animal collective behavior depends on topological rather than metric distance: Evidence from a field study

  2007cited by this paper
• Swarming and swirling in self-propelled polar granular rods.

  2007cited by this paper
• From Disorder to Order in Marching Locusts

  2006cited by this paper
• Long-Lived Giant Number Fluctuations in a Swarming Granular Nematic

  2006cited by this paper
• Collective memory and spatial sorting in animal groups.

  2002cited by this paper
• Self-Organization in Biological Systems

  2001cited by this paper
• Complexity, pattern, and evolutionary trade-offs in animal aggregation.

  1999cited by this paper
• Animal Groups in Three Dimensions: Social forces in animal congregations: Interactive, motivational, and sensory aspects

  1997cited by this paper
• Social force model for pedestrian dynamics.

  1995cited by this paper
• The simulation of the movement of fish schools

  1993cited by this paper
• Steady-state analysis of strongly colored multiplicative noise in a dye laser.

  1987cited by this paper
• Dynamical systems: A unified colored-noise approximation.

  1987cited by this paper
• A simulation study on the schooling mechanism in fish.

  1982cited by this paper
• Smoothing and differentiation of data by simplified least square procedure.

  1964cited by this paper
• Distributed under Creative Commons Cc-by 4.0 Vision in Two Cyprinid Fish: Implications for Collective Behavior

  year unknowncited by this paper

• Occlusion-Robust Swarm Motion via Pheromone-Modulated Orientation Change

  2026cites this paper
• Social interactions in medaka fish depend on discrete kinematic states of swimming behavior.

  2026cites this paper
• Size-selective mortality evolutionarily alters collective behaviour in response to predation risk in a zebrafish (Danio rerio) harvest-induced selection model.

  2026cites this paper
• Future practices of interdisciplinary research in collective animal behaviour.

  2026cites this paper
• Swimming speed of schooling fish controls social interaction strength in open-loop immersive virtual reality

  2026influential citation
• Networked Collective Dynamics in Animal Ecology and Cell Biology

  2026cites this paper
• Study on the propulsion performance of robotic fish driven by pectoral fins in burst-and-coast swimming

  2026cites this paper
• A Finite Interaction Depth Model for Swarm Robotics Inspired by Fish Schooling Behavior

  2025cites this paper
• Self-reorganization and Information Transfer in Massive Schools of Fish

  2025influential citation
• Emergence of longitudinal queue behavior based on topological interaction and asynchronous dynamics.

  2025cites this paper
• An open-source closed-loop Virtual Reality system to investigate social interactions and collective behavior in fish

  2025cites this paper
• Bugs with features: vision-based fault-tolerant collective motion inspired by nature

  2025cites this paper
• Closed-loop real-virtual interactions validate 3D model of social coordination in fish

  2025influential citation
• Behavioural response of prey to repeated attacks by non-coordinating predators

  2025cites this paper
• Group size and social interactions’ strength determine collective response to perturbation in a model of burst-and-coast swimming fish

  2025influential citation
• Speed-controlled visual stimuli modulate fish collective dynamics

  2025cites this paper
• Collective Behavior in Medaka Fish Depends on Discrete Kinematic States of Swimming Behavior

  2025cites this paper
• Data-Driven Stochastic Modeling of Schooling Fish: From Collective Dynamics to Individual Fluctuations

  2025cites this paper
• Collective motion model inspired by fish school based on deep attention mechanism

  2025cites this paper
• Experimental evidence of stress-induced critical state in schooling fish

  2025cites this paper
• Individual particle persistence antagonizes global ordering in populations of nematically aligning self-propelled particles.

  2025cites this paper
• Conditioning a collective avoidance response in rummy-nose tetra.

  2025cites this paper
• Allocentric flocking

  2025cites this paper
• Commanding emergent behavior with neural networks

  2025cites this paper
• Attentional switching in larval zebrafish

  2025cites this paper
• Group dynamics of Plecoglossus altivelis under different light environments

  2025cites this paper
• Shoal cohesion and polarisation increase in turbid water and improve foraging performance

  2025cites this paper
• Effects of boundaries for high Reynolds number artificial swimmers

  2025cites this paper
• Flocking phase transition and threat responses in bio-inspired autonomous drone swarms

  2025cites this paper
• Fish communicate with water flow to enhance a school's social network.

  2024cites this paper
• Automatic Identification of Human Subgroups in Time-Dependent Pedestrian Flow Networks

  2024cites this paper
• Experience-dependent modulation of collective behavior in larval zebrafish

  2024cites this paper
• Collective phases and long-term dynamics in a fish school model with burst-and-coast swimming

  2024influential citation
• Behavioral transition of a fish school in a crowded environment.

  2024cites this paper
• Selective decision-making and collective behavior of fish by the motion of visual attention

  2024influential citation
• Dynamical order and many-body correlations in zebrafish show that three is a crowd

  2024cites this paper
• Collective order and group structure of shoaling fish subject to differing risk-level treatments with a sympatric predator

  2024cites this paper
• Collective responses of flocking sheep to a herding dog

  2024cites this paper
• Modeling and simulation of the fish collective behavior with risk perception and startle cascades

  2024cites this paper
• Collective responses of flocking sheep (Ovis aries) to a herding dog (border collie)

  2024cites this paper
• On turning maneuverability in self-propelled burst-and-coast swimming

  2024cites this paper
• Collective phase transitions in confined fish schools

  2024cites this paper
• The impact of predators and vegetation on shoaling in wild zebrafish

  2024cites this paper
• Avalanche dynamics of zebrafish schools: Unveiling self-organization and phase transitions

  2024cites this paper
• Boltzmann approach to collective motion via nonlocal visual interaction.

  2024cites this paper
• Using neuronal models to capture burst-and-glide motion and leadership in fish

  2023cites this paper
• Bio-Inspired 3D Flocking Algorithm with Minimal Information Transfer for Drones Swarms

  2023cites this paper
• Honeybee-like collective decision making in a kilobot swarm

  2023cites this paper
• Signatures of criticality in turning avalanches of schooling fish

  2023cites this paper
• An examination of force maps targeted at orientation interactions in moving groups

  2023cites this paper
• Quantifying the biomimicry gap in biohybrid systems

  2023cites this paper
• Smart self-propelled particles: a framework to investigate the cognitive bases of movement

  2023influential citation
• Human Crowds as Social Networks: Collective Dynamics of Consensus and Polarization

  2023cites this paper
• A Biohybrid Interaction Framework for the Integration of Robots in Animal Societies

  2023influential citation
• Selective social interactions and speed-induced leadership in schooling fish

  2023cites this paper
• A simple cognitive model explains movement decisions in zebrafish while following leaders

  2023cites this paper
• Tuning social interactions’ strength drives collective response to light intensity in schooling fish

  2023influential citation
• Data-driven discovery of stochastic dynamical equations of collective motion

  2023cites this paper
• Motion leadership and local interaction in two species of freshwater fish (Danio rerio and Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi).

  2023cites this paper
• Illuminance-tuned collective motion in fish

  2023cites this paper
• Predicting the long-term collective behaviour of fish pairs with deep learning

  2023influential citation
• Collective motions of fish originate from balanced local perceptual interactions and individual stochastics.

  2023cites this paper
• Quantifying the biomimicry gap in biohybrid robot-fish pairs

  2023influential citation
• Characterizing Pairwise U-Turn Behavior in Fish: A Data-Driven Analysis

  2023cites this paper
• Long time and large crowd dynamics of discrete Cucker-Smale alignment models

  2022cites this paper
• Attraction vs. Alignment as Drivers of Collective Motion

  2022cites this paper
• Individual and collective behaviour of fish subject to differing risk-level treatments with a sympatric predator

  2022cites this paper
• Scale-free behavioral cascades and effective leadership in schooling fish

  2022cites this paper
• Kinematic analysis of social interactions deconstructs the evolved loss of schooling behavior in cavefish

  2022cites this paper
• Selective interaction and its effect on collective motion

  2022cites this paper
• Alignment with neighbours enables escape from dead ends in flocking models

  2022influential citation
• Collective orientation of an immobile fish school and effect on rheotaxis.

  2021cites this paper
• Modeling multi-sensory feedback control of zebrafish in a flow

  2021cites this paper
• Self-organization and information transfer in Antarctic krill swarms

  2021cites this paper
• Identifying interaction neighbours in animal groups

  2021cites this paper
• Collective behavior emerges from genetically controlled simple behavioral motifs in zebrafish

  2021cites this paper
• A statistical method for identifying different rules of interaction between individuals in moving animal groups

  2021cites this paper
• Order–disorder transitions in a minimal model of active elasticity

  2021cites this paper
• Collective states and their transitions in football

  2021cites this paper
• Precise visuomotor transformations underlying collective behavior in larval zebrafish

  2021cites this paper
• Impact of Variable Speed on Collective Movement of Animal Groups

  2021cites this paper
• Absence of "selfish herd" dynamics in bird flocks under threat.

  2021cites this paper
• Self-Organized Evasive Fountain Maneuvers with a Bioinspired Underwater Robot Collective

  2021cites this paper
• Emergence of a Giant Rotating Cluster of Fish in Three Dimensions by Local Interactions

  2021cites this paper
• Modeling zebrafish geotaxis as a feedback control process

  2021cites this paper
• Changes in movement characteristics in response to private and social information acquisition of socially foraging fish

  2021cites this paper
• The visual coupling between neighbors explains ‘flocking’ in human crowds

  2021cites this paper
• The impact of individual perceptual and cognitive factors on collective states in a data-driven fish school model

  2021cites this paper
• Intelligent Control of Collective Motion Based on Deep Learning

  2021influential citation
• Mathematical Modeling of Zebrafish Social Behavior in Response to Acute Caffeine Administration

  2021cites this paper
• Intelligent Control of Swarm Robotics Employing Biomimetic Deep Learning

  2021influential citation
• Randomness in the choice of neighbours promotes cohesion in mobile animal groups

  2021influential citation
• Disentangling intrinsic motion from neighborhood effects in heterogeneous collective motion.

  2021cites this paper
• Topological flocking models in spatially heterogeneous environments

  2021cites this paper
• Evolutionary Impact of Size-Selective Harvesting on Shoaling Behavior: Individual-Level Mechanisms and Possible Consequences for Natural and Fishing Mortality

  2021cites this paper
• R A F T Evolutionary impact of size-selective harvesting on shoaling behavior: Individual-level mechanisms and possible consequences for natural and fishing mortality

  2021cites this paper
• Systematic Analysis of Emergent Collective Motion Produced by a 3D Hybrid Zonal Model

  2021cites this paper
• Kinematic analysis deconstructs the evolved loss of schooling behavior in cavefish

  2020cites this paper
• Topological flocking models in spatially heterogeneous environments

  2020cites this paper
• Examination of an averaging method for estimating repulsion and attraction interactions in moving groups

  2020cites this paper