Meeting Abstract

P1.182  Saturday, Jan. 4 15:30  Conditioned behavioral responses to artificial water flows by the lateral line system in a cichlid fish SCHWALBE, M.A.B*; SEVEY, B.J.; WEBB, J.F.; University of Rhode Island; University of Rhode Island; University of Rhode Island mbergstrom@my.uri.edu

The peacock cichlid, Aulonocara stuartgranti, uses its lateral line system to detect hydrodynamic stimuli generated by benthic prey. A novel apparatus was designed to deliver artificial water flows emanating from tubes in the substrate, thus mimicking the flows generated by the benthic prey on which they feed in Lake Malawi. Fish did not demonstrate a clear unconditioned response to these flows, so a positive reinforcement protocol (food pellet reward) was used to train four adult fish to respond to two different types of flow (Type I – “pulsed,” Type II – “dampened”) at several flow rates, which were visualized and quantified using DPIV. Trained fish demonstrated a range of behaviors when responding to artificial flows. Responses of ≥3 s were defined and ranked by type (hover, shift, or search), and whether or not the fish bit at the tube (which was an unconditioned behavior). A hover with bite was considered to be the most intense behavior. Aulonocara learned to seek out artificial flows and detected both Type I and II flows at all rates presented (~1-47 mm/s); the behavioral threshold was below the minimum flow rate that could be generated with the apparatus. The types of behavioral responses varied with flow type – most fish responded to Type I flows by hovering with its lower jaw directly over the flow and bit at the tube, and most fish responded to Type II flows by hovering without bites. This study demonstrated for the first time that teleost fishes can be trained to respond to biologically relevant artificial water flows coming from the benthos, and can distinguish between flows with different hydrodynamic structures. Supported by NSF grant IOS-0843307 to JFW.