Alarm cue induces an antipredator morphological defense in juvenile Nicaragua cichlids Hypsophrys nicaraguensis  

作　　者：Maria E.ABATE Andrew G. ENG Les KAUFMAN 

机构地区：[1]Department of Biology, Boston University [2]Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2010年第1期36-42,共7页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：provided by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program of Boston University

摘　　要：Olfactory cues that indicate predation risk elicit a number of defensive behaviors in fishes, but whether they are sufficient to also induce morphological defenses has received little attention. Cichlids are characterized by a high level of morphological plasticity during development, and the few species that have been tested do exhibit defensive behaviors when exposed to alarm cues released from the damaged skin of conspecifics. We utilized young juvenile Nicaragua cichlids Hypsophrys nicaraguensis to test if the perception of predation risk from alarm cue （conspecific skin extract） alone induces an increased relative body depth which is a defense against gape-limited predators. After two weeks of exposure, siblings that were exposed to conspecific alarm cue increased their relative body depth nearly double the amount of those exposed to distilled water （control） and zebrafish Danio rerio alarm cue. We repeated our measurements over the last two weeks （12 and 14） of cue exposure when the fish were late-stage juveniles to test if the rate of increase was sustained; there were no differences in final dimensions between the three treatments. Our results show that 1） the Nicaragua cichlid has an innate response to conspecific alarm cue which is not a generalized response to an injured fish, and 2） this innate recognition ultimately results in developing a deeper body at a stage of the life history where predation risk is high [Current Zoology 56 （1）： 36-42, 2010].

关 键 词：Alarm substance Inducible defense Phenotypic plasticity CICHLID Chemical cue ANTIPREDATOR 

分 类 号：Q958[生物学—动物学]