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Behavioural variation in Eurasian perch populations with respect to relative catchability

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Abstract

Animal personalities, i.e. consistent individual differences in behaviour, are currently of high interest among behavioural and evolutionary biologists. The topic has received increasing attention also in fisheries science because selective harvesting of certain behavioural types might impose fishing-induced selection on personality. Here, we ice-fished wild Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis) from three native populations and investigated whether differences in relative catchability would explain behavioural differences observed in experimental conditions. We inferred relative catchability differences indirectly by fishing each location first with generally inefficient artificial bait and then by more efficient natural bait. The captured, individually tagged fish were tested in groups for their exploration tendency, activity and boldness under authentic predation risk in semi-natural stream channels. Fish that were easily captured first with artificial bait expressed fast exploration and acute activity, whereas the fish captured with natural bait showed less active and explorative behaviour. Differences in relative catchability did not explain variation in boldness or body size. In conclusion, we found that (1) Eurasian perch differing in relative catchability differ in certain behavioural traits, (2) fast explorers are more common among fish that get easily caught compared to fish that are more difficult to catch, (3) relative catchability explains more behavioural variation in a novel environment than in a familiar one and (4) selectivity of recreational angling on fish behaviour may depend on applied angling method and the effort spent on each location.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the reviewers for their comments on the manuscript. Tomasz Podgorniak is gratefully acknowledged for his help in the study and the fishing trials and Tapio Laaksonen for his intensive help in building the PIT antennas for this study. Pekka Kurttila is acknowledged for kindly providing the baits used for free. This research has been supported by a project grant from the Emil Aaltonen Foundation. This work conforms to the current laws of Finland (permit number ESAVI/4356/04.10.03/2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Laura Härkönen, Petri T. Niemelä & Anssi Vainikka

  2. Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Natural Resources and Bioproduction, Manamansalontie 90, FI-88300, Paltamo, Finland

    Pekka Hyvärinen

  3. Department of Biology, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland

    Laura Härkönen, Petri T. Niemelä & Anssi Vainikka

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  1. Laura Härkönen
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  2. Pekka Hyvärinen
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  3. Petri T. Niemelä
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  4. Anssi Vainikka
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Correspondence to Laura Härkönen.

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Härkönen, L., Hyvärinen, P., Niemelä, P.T. et al. Behavioural variation in Eurasian perch populations with respect to relative catchability. acta ethol 19, 21–31 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-015-0219-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-015-0219-7

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