Social Decision Making is influenced by size of shoal but not boldness, sociability or familiarity in Deccan Mahseer (Tor Khudree)

Varma, Vishwanath and Singh, Abhishek and Vijayan, Jintu and Binoy, VV (2020) Social Decision Making is influenced by size of shoal but not boldness, sociability or familiarity in Deccan Mahseer (Tor Khudree). Marine and Freshwater Behaviour and Physiology, 53 (5-6). pp. 231-250.

[img] Text
2020-MFBP-Binoy.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to Repository staff only

Download (2MB) | Request a copy
ContributionNameEmail
Abstract: Many piscine species form fission-fusion societies where decisions to leave or join a shoal are influenced by factors such as shoal size, familiarity and species. Individuals exhibit distinct shoaling preferences based on behavioural traits such as boldness and sociability. In this study, we examined the link between shoaling decisions and behavioural traits in a hatchery reared population of an endangered megafish, the Deccan mahseer (Tor khudree). We found that this fish exhibits preference for larger shoals when presented with choices of 2 vs 4 and 2 vs 8 shoal sizes. However, no preference for isolated familiar or unfamiliar conspecifics over invasive heterospecifics was observed. Moreover, individual shoaling preferences did not correlate with their boldness or sociability. These results suggest that juvenile hatchery reared mahseers reintroduced into natural habitats may shoal with invasive species and modifying their social behaviour by amending rearing practices could improve outcomes of restocking interventions.
Item Type: Journal Paper
Additional Information: Copyright belongs to the Publisher. Raw datasets used in this work are available at https://osf.io/j8r7x/
Keywords: shoaling preference, boldness, sociability, shoal size, familiarity, Heterospecifics, Deccan Mahseer
Subjects: Programmes > Animal Behaviour and Cognition
School of Natural and Engineering Sciences > Animal Behaviour
Date Deposited: 16 Dec 2020 10:24
Last Modified: 19 Dec 2020 11:28
Official URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10236...
Related URLs:
Funders: Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology
Projects: *
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10236244.2020.1838244
URI: http://eprints.nias.res.in/id/eprint/2036

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item