Detailed movement and laterality of fin-biting behaviour with special mouth morphology in Genyochromis mento in Lake Malawi [RESEARCH ARTICLE]

Yuichi Takeuchi, Hiroki Hata, Atsushi Maruyama, Takuto Yamada, Takuma Nishikawa, Makiko Fukui, Richard Zatha, Bosco Rusuwa, and Yoichi Oda Several vertebrates, including fish, exhibit behavioural laterality and associated morphological asymmetry. Laterality may increase individual fitness, and foraging strength, accuracy, and speed. However, little is known about which behaviours are affected by laterality or what fish species exhibit obvious laterality. Previous research on the predatory behaviour of the scale-eating Lake Tanganyika cichlid Perissodus microlepis indicates behavioural laterality that reflects asymmetric jaw morphology. The Lake Malawi cichlid Genyochromis mento feeds on the fins of other fish, a behaviour that G. mento developed independently from the Tanganyikan Perissodini scale-eaters. We investigated stomach contents and behavioural laterality of predation in aquarium to clarify the functional roles and evolution of laterality in cichlids. We also compared the behavioural laterality and mouth asymmetry of G. mento and P. microlepis. The diet of G. mento mostly includes fin fragments, but also scales of several fish species. Most individual G. mento specimens showed significant attack bias favouring the skew mouth direction. However, there was no difference in success rate between attacks from the preferred side and those from the non-preferred side, and no lateralized kinetic elements in predation behaviour. G. mento showed weaker laterality than P. micro...
Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research