Journal Article
Navigation in the dark: early behavioural adaptation of Europe's only native cave fish
Kleinschmidt, Y., Ros, A., Behrmann-Godel, J. and Brinker, A.
Record Number:
6463
Year:
2024
Journal:
Animal Behaviour
Pages:
111-124
Volume:
215:111e124
Notes:
2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Abstract:
This study analyses behavioural adaptations in a recently discovered European cave fish. Navigation in standardized labyrinth conditions was compared between this cave fish, its epigean ancestor, the European stone loach, Barbatula barbatula, and hybrid specimens. Loach behaviour was tracked and recorded using an infrared camera. In open field tests, in both dark and light conditions, cave loaches showed reduced thigmotaxis compared to the other two groups. Hybrid loaches generally showed strong avoidance of the open field, whereas epigean loaches avoided the open field more in light than in dark conditions. Other tests were performed in darkness only. Cave loaches showed more consistent lateralization in turning behaviour during exploration of the Y-maze than the other two groups, indicating a search strategy optimized for nonvisual navigation. In all groups, complex maze learning was evident in the first half of the 15 trials, with a reduction in latency of departure from the starting chamber, and in both time and track length to reach the food chamber. However, cave loaches were far more successful in finding food than were epigean loaches and hybrid loaches. When the path to the food chamber was
altered, epigean loaches generally responded by changing their route, whereas cave loaches tended to continue following a previously learned path and hybrid loaches exhibited intermediate behaviours. In conclusion, the enhanced ability of cave loaches to navigating labyrinths in the dark compared to their epigean ancestor suggests the evolution of behavioural traits that optimize survival in caves.
Times Cited:
1
Relevent Species:
Related Records:
Smyly, W.J.P. (1955)
On the biology of the Stone Loach Nemacheilus barbatula (L.)
Bacesu-Mester, L (1967)Contributions to the study of the genus Noemacheilus (Pisces, Cobitidae)
Perrin, J.F. (1980)Structure et functionement des ecosystemes du Haut-Rhone francaise. 14. etude des preferences alimentaire de la loche franche (Noemacheilus barbatulus L.) par une methode des points modifee
Bless, R. (1985)Zur regeneration von Blachen der Agarlandschaft - Eine ichthyologische Fallstudie
Maitland, P.S. and Campbell, R.N. (1992)Freshwater fishes of the British Isles
Hotzl, H (1996)Origin of the Danube-Aach system
Bromidge, N. (2004)Stone loach Barbatula barbatula
Fischer, P. (2004)Nocturnal foraging in the stone loach (Barbatula barbatula): Fixed or environmentally mediated behavior?
Kottelat, M. and Freyhof, J. (2007)Handbook of European freshwater fishes
Coghlan, A. (2017)First ever cave fish discovered in Europe evolved super-fast
Behrmann-Godel, J., Nolte, A.W., Kreiselmaier, J., Berka, R. and Freyhof, J. (2017)The first European cave fish
Behrmann-Godel, J. and Nolte, A.W. (2018)Evolutiv junge europäische Höhlenfische
Freyhof, J. (2022)Barbatula barbatula (Errata version 2019)
Behrmann-Godel, J., Roch, S., Böhm, A., Jolles, J. and Brinker, A. (2023)Phenotypic plasticity and genetic differentiation drive troglomorphic character development in European cave loach
Jolles, J.W., Böhm, A., Brinker, A. and Behrmann-Godel, J. (2024)Unravelling the origins of boldness behaviour: a common garden experiment with cavefish (Barbatula barbatula)
Behrmann-Godel, J., Roch, S., Böhm, A., Jolles, J.W. and Brinker, A. (2024)Genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity drive troglomorphic character development in European cavefish
Kleinschmidt, Y., Ros, A., Behrmann-Godel, J. and Brinker, A. (2024)Navigation in the dark: early behavioural adaptation of Europe's only native cave fish