The role of personality in recognition of novel and familiar chemical cues in the catfish Silurus glanis

Bc. Nikola Pfauserová

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The olfaction plays a crucial role in social recognition of Silurus glanis. The influence of familiarity and pigmentation on preference to shoal with conspecifics was investigated. The literature review of this thesis focused mainly on – social recognition, familiarity, and albinism – and its consequences for aquaculture and fish welfare. The primary interest was paid to the role of olfaction in recognition of conspecifics in respect to fish welfare. The experimental part provides new insights into social recognition of Wels catfish Silurus glanis. For the first time, we observed and demonstrated the ability of a catfish to make decisions based on olfaction only. A method that includes a binomial choice of familiar and unfamiliar chemical cues enabled the detection of social preferences of the individual. In the first part of the experiment, we observed a preference for familiar chemical cues in albino and pigmented juvenile Silurus glanis catfish. We found a significant preference for familiar cues in both groups (albino Adj P <0.0001; pigmented Adj P<0.0017). There were no differences observed in the ability of pigmented and albino individuals to detect chemical cues of conspecifics; the tendency to associate with conspecifics was also comparable. In the second part, we observed no preference of pigmented fish for unfamiliar albino chemical cues or an unfamiliar cues of pigmented fish. These results demonstrate that albinism may not affect fish olfaction and neither chemical cues of albino fish. Another observed phenomenon was lateralization; results revealed a strong preference for the left side of the arena when contained familiar chemical cues. We suggest further research to explain this phenomenon.

Keywords

familiarity, group, behavioural syndrome, fish, catfish

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 3. 5. 2018

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Ondřej Slavík, Ph.D.
• Reader: Petra Horká, Bc., externi

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources

Master programme / field:
Tropical Agriculture / Wildlife Management in the Tropics and Subtropics