BLEAKLEY, BH; MARTELL, CM; BRODIE III, ED; Indiana University; Indiana University; Indiana University: Variation in antipredator behavior in three strains of inbred fancy guppies, Poecilia reticulata.

Common guppies, Poecilia reticulata, react to the presence of potential predators in the wild with a characteristic inspection behavior that appears to transmit information about the threat to the entire shoal. Inspection behavior, therefore, has the potential to impact both the fitness of the individual and the members of its social group as indirect genetic effects theory explicitly predicts that the fitness of an individual is not entirely dependent on its own phenotype, but also the phenotypes of its social partners. Fancy guppies provide inbred genetically homogenous lines, which minimize the variance in individual behavior as the result of underlying genetic differences. Given highly inbred lines, any observed variance in the behavior of individuals is expected to be due to environmental variation, such as the environment provided by social partners. Variation in fitness is therefore a property of the group interaction and not only the individual phenotype. Three strains of inbred fancy guppies, with distinct morphological variation, were evaluated for their responses to visual, chemical and combination visual/chemical predatory cues to determine if strains responded with antipredator behavior and if the strains differed in their responses to the various cues. All three strains responded to predatory cues. Despite individual variation within strains, responses also varied across strains. Implications will be discussed.