Synopsis
Laboratory studies were conducted on 15 schools of blackchin shiners, Notropis heterodon, to determine if they altered their structure in response to changing environmental demands. The hypothesis tested was that fish schools should sacrifice a flat, hydrodynamically efficient structure in favour of an unobstructed visual field in the presence of a predator by staggering in the vertical plane. Ten schools were exposed for two weeks to a simple environment with only a current. For the next two-week period a predator was added. Five control schools were exposed to the simple environment for both two-week periods. Six of the ten treated schools increased their staggering in the vertical dimension as predicted while none of the control schools changed. This result was suggestive that hydrodynamic advantages were sacrificed. Respirometer experiments indicated these fish were capable of achieving some hydrodynamic benefits from schooling but these benefits may be a function of fish size.
Similar content being viewed by others
References cited
Beamish, F.W.H. 1966. Swimming endurance of some northwest Atlantic fishes. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 2: 341–347.
Belyayev, V.V. & G.V. Zuyev. 1969. Hydrodynamic hypothesis of school formation in fishes. J. Ichthyol. 9: 578–584.
Cullen, J.M., E. Shaw & H.A. Baldwin. 1965. Methods for measuring the three-dimensional structure of fish schools. Anim. Behav. 13: 534–543.
Eggers, D.M. 1976. Theoretical effect of schooling by planktivorous fish predators on rate of prey consumption. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 33: 1964–1971.
Heiligenberg, W. 1974. Processes governing behavioural states of readiness. pp. 173–200. In: D.S. Lehrman, J.S. Rosenblatt, R.A. Hinde & E. Shaw (ed.) Advances in the Study of Behaviour, Vol. 5. Academic Press, New York.
Heczko, E.J. & B.H. Seghers. 1981. Effects of alarm substance on schooling in the common shiner (Notropis cornutus, Cyprinidae). Env. Biol. Fish. 6: 25–29.
Olson, F.C.W. 1964. The survival value of fish schooling. J. Cons. Perm. Int. Explor. Mer. 29: 115–116.
Partridge, B.L., J. Johansson & J. Kalish. 1983. The structure of schools of giant bluefin tuna in Cape Cod Bay. Env. Biol. Fish. 9: 253–262.
Partridge, B.L. & T.J. Pitcher. 1979. Evidence against a hydrodynamic function for fish schools. Nature 279: 418–419.
Pitcher, T.J., A.E. Magurran & I.J. Winfield. 1982. Fish in larger shoals find food faster. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 10: 149–151.
Shlaifer, A. 1938. Studies in mass physiology: effect of numbers upon the oxygen consumption and locomotor activity of Carassius auratus. Physiol. Zool. 11: 408–424.
Siegel, S. 1956. Nonparametric statistics for the behaviour sciences. McGraw-Hill, London. 312 pp.
Weihs, D. 1973. Hydromechanics of fish schooling. Nature 241: 290–291.
Weihs, D. 1975. Some hydrodynamical aspects of fish schooling. pp. 703–718. In: T. Wu, C.J. Brokaw & C. Brennen (Ed.) Swimming and Flying in Nature, Plenum Press, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Abrahams, M.V., Colgan, P.W. Risk of predation, hydrodynamic efficiency and their influence on school structure. Environ Biol Fish 13, 195–202 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00000931
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00000931