Competitive growth in a social fish
Competitive growth in a social fish
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DOI：
10.1098/rsbl.2018.0737
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发表时间：
2019-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Buston, Peter
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Reed, Cymone;Branconi, Rebecca;Buston, Peter
许多动物社会都有统治等级，在这种等级中，社会等级与体型相关。在这样的社会中，个体的生长和大小可能是对其社会环境的战略反应：在鱼类中，个体可能会降低生长速度以保持较小的体型并保持从属地位；在哺乳动物中，个体可能会提高生长速度以变大并获得优势地位--这一战略称为竞争性增长。在这里，我们调查小丑海葵是否也表现出竞争性的生长。我们发现，与单独对照相比，与大小匹配的繁殖对手配对的幼年小丑鱼增加了它们的生长速度和大小。值得注意的是，配对的个体实现了这一点，尽管提供了与单独控制相同数量的食物。我们的结果表明，小丑鱼能够提高它们的生长速度，以响应社会竞争。这项研究增加了越来越多的证据，证明群居脊椎动物的成长可以是对其社会环境的微调塑料反应。
Many animal societies have dominance hierarchies in which social rank is correlated with size. In such societies, the growth and size of individuals can be a strategic response to their social environment: in fishes, individuals may decrease their growth rate to remain small and retain a subordinate position; in mammals, individuals may increase their growth rate to become large and attain a dominant position-a strategy called competitive growth. Here, we investigate whether the clown anemonefish, Amphiprion percula, exhibits competitive growth also. We show that juvenile clownfish paired with a size-matched reproductive rival increase their growth rate and size relative to solitary controls. Remarkably, paired individuals achieved this, despite being provided with the same amount of food as solitary controls. Our results demonstrate that clownfish are able to increase their growth rate in response to social competition. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that the growth of social vertebrates can be a fine-tuned plastic response to their social environment.