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Internal dynamics and the interrelations of fish in schools

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Summary

The three-dimensional structure of schools of saithe (Pollachius virens) and the interactions between individuals over time were analyzed in 12,240 frames of videotape sampled at 2.7 Hz. Time series analyses of the interactions between identified individuals allowed testing of assumptions of anonymity vs. leadership in schools and investigation of the transfer of information between individuals by which collective decisions are made. Results include the following:

  1. 1.

    Saithe match changes in both swimming direction and speed of their neighbors but correlations are greater for swimming speed. Average speed of the school does not greatly affect correlations between neighboring fish although the reaction latencies may be somewhat increased. As shown previously (Partridge et al. 1980) nearest neighbor distance (NND) decreases with increasing school velocity.

  2. 2.

    Saithe simultaneously match the headings and swimming speeds of at least their first two nearest neighbors within the school (NN1 and NN2). Partialling out the correlation between a fish's neighbors demonstrates that a fish's correlation to his second nearest neighbor (NN2) is not simply a transitive function of mutual correlation between the NN1 and NN2.

  3. 3.

    Several sources of individual variation in schooling performance were examined. In all respects except one, that of preferred positions within the school, saithe showed no individual differences, i.e., some were not “better schoolers” than others. Although fish in the school differed in length by up to a factor of 2.5, no size related effects in NND or nearest neighbor positioning were found.

  4. 4.

    Single Linkage Cluster Analysis (SLCA) of the cross-correlations of fishs' swimming speeds and directions demonstrated quantitatively the existence of subgroups within schools if they contain more than 10–11 members. Subgroups acting more-or-less independently in terms of short term variations in speed and direction nonetheless remained within the school as a whole and were not often apparent to observers since members of one group interdigitated with those of another. How individuals know to which subgroup they belong remains unanswered.

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Abbreviations

3-D :

three-dimensional

NN :

nearest neighbor

NND :

nearest neighbor distance

SLCA :

single linkage cluster analysis

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Miami, 33124, Coral Gables, Florida, USA

    Brian L. Partridge

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  1. Brian L. Partridge
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Additional information

The D.A.F.S. Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, Scotland, kindly provided the use of the gantry tank and ancillary equipment without which the experiments could not have been done. Thanks are due to C.S. Wardle, A.D. Hawkins, V. Mojsiewiez, R.S. Batty, J. Wilson and especially to T.J. Pitcher for assistance during the experiments and to J. Skelton for helping plot the data. I am also grateful to R. Wassersug and C. Barnett for comments on the ms, and to R. Dawkins, M. Dawkins and J. Erichsen for helpful discussions. The work was supported by research grants from the Royal Society (Browne Foundation), the New University of Ulster Operating Committee and postgraduate fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the National Research Council of Canada. Computing facilities were provided by the Departments of Experimental Psychology and Zoology, University of Oxford, and the University of Miami.

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Partridge, B.L. Internal dynamics and the interrelations of fish in schools. J. Comp. Physiol. 144, 313–325 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00612563

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