The response of convict cichlids to chemical alarm cues: an integrated study of behaviour, growth and reproduction

Predation is an important agent leading to the evolution of accurate risk assessment. In fishes, one of the best studied modes of threat assessment is the use of damage release cues from consumed or damaged individuals. These cues act as sources of public information alerting both conspecific and heterospecific individuals in the immediate area of a possible predation threat. Responses to damage release cues can be behavioural (e;g. avoidance of the cue or increased schooling), morphological (e.g. change in body shape), and potentially reproductive (e.g. altered patterns of breeding and reproductive investment). In the current study we documented the response of convict cichlids (Archocentrus nigrofaciatus) to damage release cues from conspecifics, unknown heterospecifics (swordtail, Xiphophorus helleri), and distilled water. In short term behavioural. trials we found that cichlids exhibited an antipredator response to injured conspecifics, While they exhibited a foraging response to injured swordtails and no response to distilled water. In longer term trials (41 days) we found that cichlids exposed to conspecific cues grew significantly less than those in the other treatments. Finally, we found that reproductive patterns were influenced by the treatments. Cichlids bred faster in the presence of predation cues (conspecific skin extract) and food cues (swordtail skin extract) than the control treatment (distilled water).