Relationship between the position preference and nutritional state of individuals in schools of juvenile roach (Rutilus rutilus)
Abstract
Position preferences of well-fed and food-deprived juvenile roach were investigated in schools of 2 and 4 fish in the laboratory. Food-deprived fish appeared significantly more often in the front position than their well-fed conspecifics. For fish at the same hunger level, individuals at the front of the school had the highest feeding rate. These results represent the first evidence for a relationship between the nutritional state of individual fish and their positions in a school and suggest a functional advantage of the preference.
- Publication:
-
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
- Pub Date:
- April 1992
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 1992BEcoS..30..177K
- Keywords:
-
- Nutritional State;
- Feeding Rate;
- Individual Fish;
- Position Preference;
- Front Position