Innate predator recognition and fright response in related populations ofOncorhynchus mykissunder different predation pressure

Abstract

Innate predator recognition and fright response behaviours were compared in a laboratory study between second generation offspring from two related populations of steelhead troutOncorhynchus mykissfrom Sashin Creek, Alaska. The stream population was anadromous and co‐occurred with Dolly VardenSalvelinus malma, a piscivore and salmonid predator. Sashin Lake, formerly fishless, was stocked with fish from the stream population in 1926 and that population has been isolated from heterospecific piscine predation ever since. Fish from the lake population were predicted to show diminished innate fright response to Dolly Varden scent relative to the stream population. The behaviour of 60 individual juvenileO. mykissfrom each population was measured and observed in aquaria before and after exposure to chemical cues of Dolly Varden, conspecific skin extract, or a control of distilled water. The alarm substances caused significant behavioural changes in both populations in the amount of time spent motionless, time spent in the lower water column and feeding frequency. No significant differences were observed between the stream and lake populations in the change in behaviour between pre‐ and post‐stimulus observation periods for any of the measured fright responses, indicating that the sequestered lake population has not lost the ability to detect or respond to conspecific alarm substances or Dolly Varden scent.