Antipredator behaviour of naïve Arctic charr young in the presence of predator odours and conspecific alarm cues

Abstract

Abstract – We investigated how Arctic charr young respond behaviourally to olfactory cues from skin‐damaged conspecifics, charr‐fed pikeperch, and the combination of food‐deprived pikeperch and skin‐damaged conspecific cues in a two‐channel Y‐maze fluviarium test arena. Significant antipredator responses were found to skin‐damaged conspecifics in three behavioural traits, to charr‐fed pikeperch in two traits and to the combination of pikeperch and skin‐damaged conspecific cues in all six behaviours investigated. The combination of predator and conspecific cues significantly increased spatial avoidance and cautiousness to approach the source of scent compared with odours from charr‐fed predators. The results suggest that damage‐released alarm cues exist in charr, and they strengthen the antipredator responses in conspecifics. As the charr used different behaviours and levels of response in the presence of different cues, they seem to have sophisticated skills to distinguish between different odour combinations and be able to adjust their behaviour according to the current predation risk level.