Abstract
Aggressive behavior may increase or decrease in troglobitic fishes, compared to epigean ones. Herein, we present the agonistic behavior repertoire and the causes that determine the dominance of two Brazilian cave catfishes: Glaphyropoma spinosum and putative undescribed Copionodon species. Both belong to Copionodontinae group, a small basal Trichomycteridae subfamily, and coexist in sandstone caves from Chapada Diamantina, northeastern Brazil. The results were compared with those exhibited by an epigean and syntopic species, Copionodon pecten. The fishes were paired and filmed until dominance was established; frequency of attacks was quantified and statistically analyzed. Cave copionodontine is one of the most hostile among subterranean fishes, with high frequency and complexity of aggressive components, including five new behavior components. Determinant factors for establishing dominance are body size, physical strength, and territoriality. Dominance is probably maintained by avoidance behavior by the subordinate and continuous attacks by the dominant. They are highly intolerant to conspecific, which may be a consequence of territoriality or feeding context. Two hypotheses may explain the agonistic behavior of cave species: (1) It is the maintenance of their ancestral behavior, being plesiomorphic in relation to the remaining Trichomycteridae subfamilies, corroborated by phototactic and spontaneous behavior; (2) It is an autapomorphy for Copionodontinae, due to new evolutionary acquisitions. The epigean C. pecten, in contrast, is much less aggressive, and the high tolerance to conspecific and the absence of accentuated territoriality may be explained by the food and/or space abundance in its natural habitats.
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Acknowledgements
We greatly thank J. E. Gallão, L. B. Simões, T. L. C. Scatolini, and Raimundo C. dos Santos (“Xiquinho”) who helped us in fieldwork at Igatu, E. Trajano and Lilian Casatti (UNESP), who contributed with valuable suggestions for the manuscript. Thanks also to environment governmental agency ICMBIO (Instituto Chico Mendes de Biodiversidade) for the collecting permission document (license number 20165-1) and to PPGERN/UFSCar (Programa de Pós Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais da Universidade Federal de São Carlos/ Brasil), for the infrastructure to develop this study.
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This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa no Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) under Grant (processes numbers 2008/08910-8 and 2008/05678-7).
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Rantin, B., Bichuette, M.E. Territoriality and agonistic behavior of subterranean Copionodontinae catfish (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) from Brazil. acta ethol 22, 17–28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-018-0302-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-018-0302-y