Meeting Abstract
Fish must integrate information from multiple senses during social interactions to make appropriate behavioral decisions. We recently demonstrated that the lateral line system is used by the African cichlid Astatotilapia burtoni to assess opponents and facilitate use of non-contact over contact behaviors when engaged in male-male territorial contests. It is unknown, however, where this socially-relevant mechanosensory information is processed in the brain to mediate these decisions. To examine which brain regions receive contextual mechanosensory information, we quantified expression of the immediate early gene cfos as a proxy for neural activation in sensory and socially-relevant brain regions from lateral line intact and ablated animals following territorial interactions. Lateral line ablated animals had fewer cfos-stained cells in lateral line processing regions and many nuclei implicated in social decisions. By correlating assessment and fight behaviors with cfos activation patterns, we demonstrate that regions of the social decision making network likely receive hydrodynamic cues that can be used to mediate behavioral choices such as when to fight or which type of aggressive behavior to perform. Use of water movement cues rather than more dangerous contact behaviors may serve as a self-preservation mechanism. Together these data indicate that the lateral line system provides relevant information to social brain regions during territorial interactions. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence in any species that conserved decision making nuclei also receive socially-relevant mechanosensory information. These results also highlight the importance of multimodal sensory input in mediating adaptive behaviors via the social decision making network.
