Blood Cues Induce Antipredator Behavior in Nile Tilapia Conspecifics

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.

Advances in comparative endocrinology : vol. VIII

“…It has been suggested that blood cues induce antipredator behavior in teleost fish (Barreto et al, 2013). In the present study we also showed that chemical cues present in the blood of conspecifics were able to moderately trigger the release of stress-related hormones (catecholamines, cortisol) ( Figure 1).…”

Divergent effect of fluoxetine on the response to physical or chemical stressors in zebrafish

“…Exposure to blood (5 mL, extracted from zebrafish and jundia ( Rhamdia quelen )—the use of jundia blood was due to the low yield of zebrafish blood extraction) was in a 10 L aquarium (Barreto et al, 2013); and exposure to alarm substance of conspecifics (Speedie & Gerlai, 2008) (1 mL, zebrafish) was in a 10 L aquarium (Barreto et al, 2010). After 15 min of exposure to each stressor, fish were captured, euthanized, and stored as described above (Fig.…”

A death in the family: Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) avoidance of confamilial alarm cues diminishes with phylogenetic distance

“…Aquatic animals are also under strong selection pressure to accurately assess predation risk in a variety of contexts and evolve suitable morphological, behavioral, and life‐history traits (Brown, Rive, Ferrari, & Chivers, ; Chivers, Zhao, Brown, Marchant, & Ferrari, ; Ferrari, Messier, & Chivers, ; Helfman, ; Kepel & Scrosati, 2004; McCarthy & Fisher, ). However, in water, public information regarding predation risk often takes the form of damage‐released alarm cues; chemicals involuntarily leaked into the environment following injury that elicit antipredator responses in conspecifics (Acquistapace, Calamai, Hazlett, & Gherardi, ; Barreto et al., ; Chivers & Smith, ; Ferrari, Elvidge, Jackson, Chivers, & Brown, ; Kicklighter, Germann, Kamio, & Derby, ; Mathuru et al., ; Smith, ). Alarm cues are expressed by major aquatic taxa from both freshwater and marine environments, including echinoderms (Hagen, Anderson, & Stabell, ; Majer, Trigo, & Duarte, ), mollusks (Daleo et al., ; Dalesman, Rundle, & Cotton, ; Wood, Pennoyer, & Derby, ), crustaceans (Hazlett, ), arachnids (Persons, Walker, Rypstra, & Marshall, ), acarids (Grostal & Dicke, ), insects (Gall & Brodie, ; Llandres, Gonzálvez, & Rodríguez‐Gironés, ), and fishes (Brown, Ferrari, & Chivers, ).…”