Abstract
Fish schooling in a submerged sea-cage swam next to neighbours of similar size. Between 57 and 74 fish were used. Extensive three-dimensional data showed the neighbour size effect for two different species, herring and mackerel, during both day and night. These experiments, covering sizes which coexist in the wild, are the first demonstration of the neighbour size choice in fish schools predicted by theories of hydrodynamic advantage.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature cited
Blake, R. W.: Fish locomotion. Cambridge: University Press 1983
Blaxter, J. H. S. and R. S. Batty: The herring swimbladder: loss and gain of gas. J. mar. biol. Ass. UK 64, 441–459 (1984)
Breder, C. M.: Studies on the structure of the fish school. Bull. Am. Mus. nat. Hist 98, 1–27 (1951)
Breder, C. M.: Vortices and fish schools. Zoologica 50, 97–114 (1965)
Breder, C. M.: Fish schools as operational structures. Fish. Bull. (Seattle) 74, 471–502 (1976)
Edwards, J. L.: A preliminary investigation of the target strength of herring. ICES CM 1980/B:19, 1–18 (1980)
Edwards, J. I. and F. Armstrong: Measurement of target strength of live herring and mackerel. ICES CM 1981/B:26, 1–13 (1981)
Edwards, J. I., F. Armstrong, A. E. Magurran and T. J. Pitcher: Herring, mackerel and sprat target strength experiments with behavioural observations. ICES CM 1984/B: 34, 1–31 (1984)
Forbes, S. T., E. J. Simmonds and J. I. Edwards: Target strength measurements of live gadoids. DAFS Marine Laboratory Working Paper 80/15, 42 pp. Aberdeen 1980
Magurran, A. E.: Gregarious goldfish. New Sci. 1415, 9th August 32–33 (1984)
Magurran, A. E. and T. J. Pitcher: Foraging, timidity and shoal size in minnows and goldfish. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 12, 142–152 (1983)
Magurran, A. E. and T. J. Pitcher: Caged mackerel behaviour. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Scotland, Marine Laboratory Research Report. 31 pp. Aberdeen 1984
Magurran, A. E., W. Oulten and T. J. Pitcher: Vigilant behaviour and shoal size in minnows. Z. Tierpsychol. 67, 167–168 (1985)
Musinic, R.: On the shoaling behaviour of sardines (Sardina pilchardus) in aquaria. J. Cons. int. Explor. Mer 37, 147–155 (1977)
Oshima, Y.: An experiment on the shoaling behaviour of fish: the case when two homotypic shoals consisting of large and small individuals met with each other. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish 16, 195–200 (1950)
Partridge, B. L.: Sensory aspects of schooling. Unpublished doctoral thesis. Oxford University, 520 pp 1978
Partridge, B. L.: Internal dynamics and the interrelations of fish in schools. J. comp. Physiol. 144, 313–325 (1981)
Partridge, B. L. and T. J. Pitcher: Evidence against a hydrodynamic function of fish schools. Nature, Lond. 279, 418–419 (1979)
Partridge, B. L., T. J. Pitcher, J. M. Cullen and J. P. F. Wilson: The three dimensional structure of fish schools. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 6, 277–288 (1980)
Pitcher, T. J.: The three dimensional structure of schools in the minnow, Phoxinus phoxinus (L.). Anim Behav. 21, 673–686 (1973)
Pitcher, T. J.: Sensory information and the organisation of behaviour in a shoaling cyprinid. Anim. Behav. 27, 126–149 (1979)
Pitcher, T. J.: Heuristic definitions of shoaling behaviour. Anim. Behav. 31, 611–613 (1983)
Pitcher, T. J. and J. E. T. Lawrence: A simple stereo television system with application to the measurement of coordinates of fish in schools. Behav. Res. Methods, Instrument. Computers (In press)
Pitcher, T. J. and D. Lee: Caged fish behaviour in relation to sonar target strengths. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Scotland, Marine Laboratory Research report, 47 pp. Aberdeen 1983
Pitcher, T. J., D. Lee and P. Lawton: Three dimensional analysis of caged fish behaviour. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Scotland, Marine Laboratory Research report. (In preparation)
Pitcher, T. J. and A. E. Magurran: Shoal size, patch profitability and information exchange in foraging goldfish. Anim. Behav. 31, 546–555 (1983)
Pitcher, T. J., A. E. Magurran and J. R. Allan: Size segregative behaviour in minnow shoals (In preparation)
Pitcher, T. J. and C. J. Wyche: Predator-avoidance behaviours of sandeel schools: why schools seldom split? pp 193–204. In: Predators and prey in fishes. Ed. by D. Noakes, D. Lindquist, G. Helfman and J. Wand. Junk, Netherlands (1983)
Pitcher, T. J., C. J. Wyche and A. E. Magurran: Evidence for position preferences in schooling mackerel. Anim. Behav. 30, 932–934 (1982)
Radakov, D. V.: Schooling in the ecology of fish. 173 pp. Israel programme for Scientific Translations. London: Wiley 1973
Street, N. E., A. E. Magurran and T. J. Pitcher: The effects of increased shoal size on handling time in goldfish. J. Fish Biol 25, 561–566 (1984)
Wardle, C. S.: Limits of fish swimming speed. Nature, Lond. 255, 725–727 (1975)
Wardle, C. S.: Effects of size on the swimming speed of fish, pp 299–313. In: Scale effects of animal locomotion. Ed. by T. Pedley. London: Academic Press 1977
Weihs, D.: Hydrodynamics of fish schooling. Nature, Lond. 241, 290–291 (1973)
Weihs, D.: Some hydrodynamical aspects of fish schooling, pp 703–718. In: Symposium on swimming and flying in nature. Ed by T. Wu, C. Brokaw and C. Brennan. New York: Plenum Press 1975
Weihs D. and P. W. Webb: Optimization of locomotion, pp 339–371. In: Fish biomechanics London: Praeger 1983
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pitcher, T.J., Magurran, A.E. & Edwards, J.I. Schooling mackerel and herring choose neighbours of similar size. Mar. Biol. 86, 319–322 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397518
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00397518