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Alternation of social behaviors for zebrafish (Danio rerio) in response to acute cold stress

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Abstract

Low temperature is one of the most common abiotic stresses for aquatic ectotherms. Ambient low temperatures reduce the metabolic rate of teleosts, therefore, teleosts have developed strategies to modulate their physiological status for energy saving in response to cold stress, including behaviors, circulatory system, respiratory function, and metabolic adjustments. Many teleosts are social animals and they can live in large schools to serve a variety of functions, including predator avoidance, foraging efficiency, and reproduction. However, the impacts of acute cold stress on social behaviors of fish remain unclear. In the present study, we test the hypothesis that zebrafish alter their social behaviors for energy saving as a strategy in response to acute cold stress. We found that acute cold stress increased shoaling behavior that reflected a save-energy strategy for fish to forage and escape from the predators under cold stress. The aggressive levels measured by fighting behavior tests and mirror fighting tests were reduced by cold treatment. In addition, we also found that acute cold stress impaired the learning ability but did not affect memory. Our findings provided evidence that acute cold stress alters the social behaviors of aquatic ectotherms for energy saving; knowledge of their responses to cold is essential for their conservation and management.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants as follows: (1) the grants from the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (MOST-111-2313-B-002-001- and MOST-111-2313-B-002-060-MY3) to Dr. Ming-Yi Chou; (2) the grants from Chang Gung Medical research grant, Keelung branch (CMRPG2F0283) and the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (MOST-107-2314-B-182-019) to Dr. Kuang-Yung Lee. We thank the Technology Commons, College of Life Science, NTU, for the technical support in our molecular biological experiments. This article was subsidized by NTU. The funding source had no influence in the study design; collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data; or writing of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Sian-Tai Liu, Chun-Yung Chang, and Kuang-Yung Lee contributed equally to this study.

  2. Jiun-Lin Horng and Ming-Yi Chou contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Sian-Tai Liu, Chun-Yung Chang, Sok-Keng Tong, Han-Liang Huang, Hsi Chen & Ming-Yi Chou

  2. Department of Neurology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan

    Kuang-Yung Lee

  3. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jiun-Lin Horng

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  1. Sian-Tai Liu
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Contributions

Sian-Tai Liu: Formal analysis, Investigation, and Writing—original draft. Chun-Yung Chang: Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, and Data curation. Kuang-Yung Lee: Investigation and Funding acquisition. Sok-Keng Tong: Methodology. Han-Liang Huang: Data curation. Hsi Chen: Data curation. Jiun-Lin Horng: Formal analysis, Supervision, and Validation. Ming-Yi Chou: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Validation, Writing—original draft, and Writing—review & editing. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ming-Yi Chou.

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Ethical approval

All experimental protocols conducted in this study were thoroughly reviewed and approved by the Animal Care and Use Committees of National Taiwan University (approval no. NTU-110-EL-00122).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Liu, ST., Chang, CY., Lee, KY. et al. Alternation of social behaviors for zebrafish (Danio rerio) in response to acute cold stress. Fish Physiol Biochem 50, 653–666 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-024-01296-8

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