Abstract
In this study, we show that the fish Nile tilapia displays an antipredator response to chemical cues present in the blood of conspecifics. This is the first report of alarm response induced by blood-borne chemical cues in fish. There is a body of evidence showing that chemical cues from epidermal ‘club’ cells elicit an alarm reaction in fish. However, the chemical cues of these ‘club’ cells are restricted to certain species of fish. Thus, as a parsimonious explanation, we assume that an alarm response to blood cues is a generalized response among animals because it occurs in mammals, birds and protostomian animals. Moreover, our results suggest that researchers must use caution when studying chemically induced alarm reactions because it is difficult to separate club cell cues from traces of blood.
Highlights
Aquatic animals use chemical cues for predator recognition and defensive behavior [1–3]
All hatcherygrown Nile tilapia used in the experiment and as blood donors were obtained from the same stock population
The number of line crosses was statistically lower for the group exposed to conspecific blood than it was for the other groups (oneway ANOVA; F(3;36) = 17.501; P,0.0001; Fig. 1a)
Summary
Aquatic animals use chemical cues for predator recognition and defensive behavior [1–3]. A common chemical cue comes from injury of a prey animal as a result of a predator attack These cues have been well studied in species from the superorders Ostariophysi and Acanthopterygii (Perciformes), which have ‘club’ cells in their epidermis that may produce and store these putative chemical alarm cues [1,10–13]. These cues are released into the water by mechanical damage to the skin during the capture stage of a predation event, eliciting alarm reactions on conspecifics, that comprise behavioral and physiological changes [1,4,14–20]
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