Meeting Abstract
Several aquatic air-breathing species of vertebrates exhibit synchronous air-breathing behavior, whereby individuals in a group breathe air in unison. This behavior likely reduces predation of individuals in a manner analogous to fish schooling. Anecdotal evidence from the early 1900s suggests that bichirs of the genus Polypterus also exhibit synchronous air-breathing behavior. However, there have been no studies confirming these observations. We video recorded a captive group of 10 Polypterus consisting of five individuals each of two species (P. senegalus and P. endlicheri) and analyzed the temporal frequency of air-breaths taken by the group under two conditions: undisturbed and disturbed by a stimulus mimicking a bird flying overhead. We found that undisturbed Polypterus exhibited a weakly uniform air-breathing behavior. However, disturbed Polypterus exhibited synchronous air-breathing. Our study confirms the observations of Polypterus synchronous air-breathing made in the early 1900s. Additionally we found, for the first time, synchronous air-breathing between two different species.
