Lecture 23

Question 1

what is behaviour?

Answer 1

all that a fish does as a consequence of all that it is

sum of all the motor responses of the organism to all the external and internal stimuli acting upon it

Question 2

what are the 2 most important behaviours in fish?

Answer 2

reproductive and feeding

Question 3

what is kinesis?

Answer 3

random movements when stimulated

Question 4

what is taxis?

Answer 4

directed movement (towards or away) from stimulus

Question 5

what is geotaxis?

Answer 5

movement towards/away from gravity

Question 6

how do fish maintain geotaxis?

Answer 6

membranous labyrinth of inner ear

Question 7

how to fish orient themselves in regards to gravity?

Answer 7

they orient themselves so that their dorsal side is ‘up’

Question 8

what is phototaxis?

Answer 8

movement towards/away from light

Question 9

how do diurnal fish tend to orient themselves with regards to light? what about nocturnal fish?

Answer 9

diurnal fish = towards the light

nocturnal fish = away from the light

Question 10

what is electrotaxis? what is another name for it?

Answer 10

movement towards/away from electric fields or magnetic fields
galvanotaxis

Question 11

what its thygmotaxis?

Answer 11

moving away from/towards contact with an object

Question 12

what is rheotaxis? where is it common?

Answer 12

moving away from/towards water current

common in anadromous species

Question 13

in Anguilla spp., which phase of the life cycle exhibits positive rheotaxis? negative rheotaxis?

Answer 13

positive = elvers 
negative = adults

Question 14

what is positive taxis?

Answer 14

moving towards something

Question 15

what is negative taxis?

Answer 15

moving away from something

Question 16

what is chemotaxis?

Answer 16

responding to chemical cues

Question 17

what is chemotaxis used for?

Answer 17

avoidance of danger
food
breeding
parental care
home range
migration

Question 18

what is cognition? what is it assumed to be correlated with?

Answer 18

memory and learning

correlated with brain size

Question 19

what complex social systems/behaviours can fish exhibit?

Answer 19

recognizing individuals
teaching others
spatially encode complex environments

Question 20

how can fish teach/learn from others?

Answer 20

observe and mimic more experienced individuals

Question 21

what is learning?

Answer 21

transfer of information and incorporation of this experience into new or modified behaviours

Question 22

what percentage of fish school?

Answer 22

50-80%

Question 23

how do fish know how to school?

Answer 23

partly innate, partly learned

juveniles will not school, then will start hanging in pairs, then will hang around in groups

Question 24

what is the nearest neighbour distance in schooling fishes?

Answer 24

half of 1 body length

Question 25

how do fish keep together when schooling?

Answer 25

attraction of visual stimuli (schooling marks) keeps them close repulsion of lateral line stimuli makes sure they don't get too close

Question 26

what are schooling marks? what are they for?

Answer 26

long stripes going through body or a spot on body allow visual recognition from other individuals

Question 27

what are the 5 categories of learning? from most basic to most advanced

Answer 27

1. imprinting 2. habituation 3. conditioning 4. trial and error 5. insight or reasoning

Question 28

what is imprinting?

Answer 28

individual will learn something very early in its life and it gets ingrained in them

Question 29

what its habituation?

Answer 29

learn to ignore the unnecessary

Question 30

what is conditioning?

Answer 30

training to behave a certain way

Question 31

what are the types of conditioning and what do they mean?

Answer 31

classical - train to respond in observable ways | instrumental/operant - train to perform new and more complex tasks

Question 32

what is trial and error?

Answer 32

a form of conditioning that occurs in nature

Question 33

what is insight or reasoning?

Answer 33

apply past experiences to solve new problems without a period of trial and error

Question 34

what is the prisoner's dilemma?

Answer 34

a game used in game theory to show why 2 individuals might not cooperate cheating is the highest benefit to individual, but if both cooperate, it gives a higher benefit than if they both cheat

Question 35

what is symbiosis?

Answer 35

interaction of two different organisms living in close proximity generally applied to different species

Question 36

what is mutualism?

Answer 36

symbiosis that benefits both participants

Question 37

what is commensalism?

Answer 37

symbiosis that benefits one participant, but neither harms nor benefits the other

Question 38

what is parasitism?

Answer 38

symbiosis that benefits one participant, but harms the other

Question 39

what are cleaner fish?

Answer 39

remove ectoparasites from other fishes

Question 40

how do cleaner fish operate?

Answer 40

they have cleaning stations which clients visit

Question 41

who has priority with cleaner fish?

Answer 41

clients with choice get priority

Question 42

how do cleaner fish resolve issues pre-conflict?

Answer 42

cleaners give tactile stimulation | use pelvics and pectorals to stoke dorsal fins of clients

Question 43

how does a client react to a cleaner fish that cheats?

Answer 43

leave and find another station, or punish the cleaner fish by biting, chasing, snapping at I t

Question 44

how do we know that cleaner fish exhibit high cognition?

Answer 44

cleaners give better service after punishment cleaners reconcile after cheating cleaners exploit other predators to avoid punishment they don't cheat when watched by others

Question 45

how long can fish remember where hidden food is?

Answer 45

3 minutes