SUMMARYThe cranial lateral line canal system of teleost fishes is morphologically diverse and is characterized by four patterns. One of these, widened lateral line canals, has evolved convergently in a wide range of teleosts, including the Lake Malawi peacock cichlids (Aulonocara), and has been attributed to its role in prey detection. The ability to study Aulonocara in the laboratory provides an opportunity to test the hypothesis that their reported ability to feed on invertebrate prey living in sandy substrates in their natural habitat is the result of lateral-line-mediated prey detection. The goal of this study was to determine whether Aulonocara stuartgranti could detect hydrodynamic stimuli generated by tethered brine shrimp (visualized using digital particle image velocimetry) under light and dark conditions, with and without treatment with cobalt chloride, which is known to temporarily inactivate the lateral line system. Fish were presented with six pairs of tethered live and dead adult brine shrimp and feeding behavior was recorded with HD digital video. Results demonstrate that A. stuartgranti: (1) uses the same swimming/feeding strategy as they do in the field; (2) detects and consumes invertebrate prey in the dark using its lateral line system; (3) alters prey detection behavior when feeding on the same prey under light and dark conditions, suggesting the involvement of multiple sensory modalities; and (4) after treatment with cobalt chloride, exhibits a reduction in their ability to detect hydrodynamic stimuli produced by prey, especially in the dark, thus demonstrating the role of the lateral line system in prey detection.

The mechanosensory lateral line system of fishes detects water motions within a few body lengths of the source. Several types of artificial stimuli have been used to probe lateral line function in the laboratory, but few studies have investigated the role of flow sensing in benthic feeding teleosts. In this study, we used artificial flows emerging from a sandy substrate to assess the contribution of flow sensing to prey detection in the peacock cichlid, Aulonocara stuartgranti, which feeds on benthic invertebrates in Lake Malawi. Using a positive reinforcement protocol, we trained fish to respond to flows lacking the visual and chemical cues generated by tethered prey in prior studies with A. stuartgranti. Fish successfully responded to artificial flows at all five rates presented (characterized using digital particle image velocimetry), and showed a range of flow-sensing behaviors, including an unconditioned bite response. Immediately after lateral line inactivation, fish rarely responded to flows and the loss of vital fluorescent staining of hair cells (with 4-di-2-ASP) verified lateral line inactivation. Within 2 days post-treatment, some aspects of flow-sensing behavior returned and after 7 days, flow-sensing behavior and hair cell fluorescence both returned to pre-treatment levels, which is consistent with the reported timing of hair cell regeneration in other vertebrates. The presentation of ecologically relevant water flows to assess flow-sensing behaviors and the use of a positive reinforcement protocol are methods that present new opportunities to study the role of flow sensing in the feeding ecology of benthic feeding fishes.

Fish use multiple sensory systems, including vision and their lateral line system, to maintain position and speed within a school. Although previous studies have shown that ablating the lateral line alters schooling behavior, no one has examined how the behavior recovers as the sensory system regenerates. We studied how schooling behavior changes in giant danios, , when their lateral line system is chemically ablated and after the sensory hair cells regenerate. We found that fish could school normally immediately after chemical ablation, but that they had trouble schooling 1-2 weeks after the chemical treatment, when the hair cells had fully regenerated. We filmed groups of giant danios with two high-speed cameras and reconstructed the three-dimensional positions of each fish within a group. One fish in the school was treated with gentamycin to ablate all hair cells. Both types of neuromasts (canal and superficial) were completely ablated after treatment, but fully regenerated after 1 week. We quantified the structure of the school using nearest neighbor distance, bearing, elevation, and the cross-correlation of velocity between each pair of fish. Treated fish maintained a normal position within the school immediately after the lateral line ablation, but could not school normally 1 or 2 weeks after treatment, even though the neuromasts had fully regenerated. By 4-8 weeks post-treatment, the treated fish could again school normally. These results demonstrate that the behavioral recovery after lateral line ablation is a longer process than the regeneration of the hair cells themselves.

18The adaptive radiations of African cichlids resulted in a diversity of feeding morphologies and 19 strategies, but the role of sensory biology in prey detection and feeding ecology remains largely 20 unexplored. Two endemic Lake Malawi cichlid genera, Tramitichromis and Aulonocara, feed on 21 benthic invertebrates, but differ in lateral line morphology (narrow and widened lateral line 22 canals, respectively) and foraging strategy. The hypothesis that they use their lateral line systems 29show that Tramitichromis is a visual predator that neither locates prey in the dark, nor depends 30 on lateral line input for prey detection and is thus distinct from A. stuartgranti, which uses its 31 lateral line or a combination of vision and lateral line to detect prey depending on light condition. 32Investigating how functionally distinctive differences in sensory morphology are correlated with 33 feeding behavior in the laboratory and determining the role of sensory systems in feeding 34 ecology will provide insights into how sensory capabilities may contribute to trophic niche 35 segregation.

In their natural habitat, fish rarely swim steadily. Instead they frequently accelerate and decelerate. Relatively little is known about how fish produce extra force for acceleration in routine swimming behavior. In this study, we examined the flow around bluegill sunfish Lepomis macrochirus during steady swimming and during forward acceleration, starting at a range of initial swimming speeds. We found that bluegill produce vortices with higher circulation during acceleration, indicating a higher force per tail beat, but they do not substantially redirect the force. We quantified the flow patterns using high speed video and particle image velocimetry and measured acceleration with small inertial measurement units attached to each fish. Even in steady tail beats, the fish accelerates slightly during each tail beat, and the magnitude of the acceleration varies. In steady tail beats, however, a high acceleration is followed by a lower acceleration or a deceleration, so that the swimming speed is maintained; in unsteady tail beats, the fish maintains the acceleration over several tail beats, so that the swimming speed increases. We can thus compare the wake and kinematics during single steady and unsteady tail beats that have the same peak acceleration. During unsteady tail beats when the fish accelerates forward for several tail beats, the wake vortex forces are much higher than those at the same acceleration during single tail beats in steady swimming. The fish also undulates its body at higher amplitude and frequency during unsteady tail beats. These kinematic changes likely increase the fluid dynamic added mass of the body, increasing the forces required to sustain acceleration over several tail beats. The high amplitude and high frequency movements are also likely required to generate the higher forces needed for acceleration. Thus, it appears that bluegill sunfish face a trade-off during acceleration: the body movements required for acceleration also make it harder to accelerate.