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Schooling Fish from a New, Multimodal Sensory Perspective

Larsson, Matz LU (2024) In Animals 14(13).
Abstract

The acoustic hypothesis suggests that schooling can result in several benefits. (1) The acoustic pattern (AP) (pressure waves and other water movements) produced by swimming are likely to serve as signals within fish shoals, communicating useful spatial and temporal information between school members, enabling synchronized locomotion and influencing join, stay or leave decisions and shoal assortment. (2) Schooling is likely to reduce the masking of environmental signals, e.g., by auditory grouping, and fish may achieve windows of silence by simultaneously stopping their movements. (3) A solitary swimming fish produces an uncomplicated AP that will give a nearby predator’s lateral line organ (LLO) excellent information, but, if extra... (More)

The acoustic hypothesis suggests that schooling can result in several benefits. (1) The acoustic pattern (AP) (pressure waves and other water movements) produced by swimming are likely to serve as signals within fish shoals, communicating useful spatial and temporal information between school members, enabling synchronized locomotion and influencing join, stay or leave decisions and shoal assortment. (2) Schooling is likely to reduce the masking of environmental signals, e.g., by auditory grouping, and fish may achieve windows of silence by simultaneously stopping their movements. (3) A solitary swimming fish produces an uncomplicated AP that will give a nearby predator’s lateral line organ (LLO) excellent information, but, if extra fish join, they will produce increasingly complex and indecipherable APs. (4) Fishes swimming close to one another will also blur the electrosensory system (ESS) of predators. Since predators use multimodal information, and since information from the LLO and the ESS is more important than vision in many situations, schooling fish may acquire increased survival by confusing these sensory systems. The combined effects of such predator confusion and other acoustical benefits may contribute to why schooling became an adaptive success. A model encompassing the complex effects of synchronized group locomotion on LLO and ESS perception might increase the understanding of schooling behavior.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
electrosensory system, evolution, lateral line organ, predator confusion
in
Animals
volume
14
issue
13
article number
1984
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • pmid:38998096
  • scopus:85198387611
ISSN
2076-2615
DOI
10.3390/ani14131984
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c93f80c2-0be9-456a-9cbc-a762499254f3
date added to LUP
2024-09-26 15:31:00
date last changed
2024-09-27 03:00:04
@article{c93f80c2-0be9-456a-9cbc-a762499254f3,
  abstract     = {{<p>The acoustic hypothesis suggests that schooling can result in several benefits. (1) The acoustic pattern (AP) (pressure waves and other water movements) produced by swimming are likely to serve as signals within fish shoals, communicating useful spatial and temporal information between school members, enabling synchronized locomotion and influencing join, stay or leave decisions and shoal assortment. (2) Schooling is likely to reduce the masking of environmental signals, e.g., by auditory grouping, and fish may achieve windows of silence by simultaneously stopping their movements. (3) A solitary swimming fish produces an uncomplicated AP that will give a nearby predator’s lateral line organ (LLO) excellent information, but, if extra fish join, they will produce increasingly complex and indecipherable APs. (4) Fishes swimming close to one another will also blur the electrosensory system (ESS) of predators. Since predators use multimodal information, and since information from the LLO and the ESS is more important than vision in many situations, schooling fish may acquire increased survival by confusing these sensory systems. The combined effects of such predator confusion and other acoustical benefits may contribute to why schooling became an adaptive success. A model encompassing the complex effects of synchronized group locomotion on LLO and ESS perception might increase the understanding of schooling behavior.</p>}},
  author       = {{Larsson, Matz}},
  issn         = {{2076-2615}},
  keywords     = {{electrosensory system; evolution; lateral line organ; predator confusion}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{13}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Animals}},
  title        = {{Schooling Fish from a New, Multimodal Sensory Perspective}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani14131984}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/ani14131984}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}