ZOOLOGICAL SCIENCE 5: 501-503 (1988) ? 1988 Zoological Society of Japan [COMMUNICATION] Preference for Striped Backgrounds by Striped Fishes Yasutoshi Kohda and Munetaka Watanabe Department of Biology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Okayama University, Tsushima, Okayama 700, Japan ABSTRACT ? Six available species of freshwater fishes, two cross-striped, two lengthwise-striped and two non- striped ones, were exposed to vertically and horizontally striped backgrounds. The two cross-striped fishes pre- ferred to rest at vertically striped sites over horizontally striped ones. One of the two lengthwise-striped fishes tended to rest at horizontally striped sites. These results imply that many striped fishes prefer resting at sites with stripes similar to their own. The behavior of one non-striped fish suggests that there may be a factor other than a fish's own stripes that causes preference of vertically striped sites. INTRODUCTION Cryptic animals must merge with their back- grounds [1, 2]. It is known that some cryptic animals choose resting places appropriate to their body colorations [3-5]. Kohda and Watanabe [6] showed that the freshwater serranid fish oyani- rami, Coreoperca kawamebari, which has cross stripes on its body, chooses to rest at vertically rather than horizontally striped sites. Do cross-striped fishes other than the oyanirami have the same preference? Do lengthwise-striped fishes prefer horizontally striped sites? Do non- striped fishes have any preference between verti- cally and horizontally striped sites? In the present study, we tested the preferences of six available species of freshwater fishes including the oyani- rami for striped sites. MATERIALS AND METHOD Ten individuals from each of six species were Accepted August 31, 1987 Received July 13, 1987 used; two cross-striped fishes, C. kawamebari (7.8-8.8 cm in total length) and Macropodus chinensis (3.2-4.0 cm), two non-striped, Carassius auratus (6.3-8.0 cm) and Acheilognathus limbata (5.0-7.4 cm), and two lengthwise-striped, Barbus titteya (3.0-3.4 cm) and Melanochromis auratus (3.5-5.1 cm). The four former species were col- lected in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, while the latter two were obtained from a tropical-fish dealer. As all the specimens were small, we used an experimental apparatus different from that used in our previous study [6]. Instead, we utilized a gray plastic tank 150x100x50 cm high (20 cm deep), which had two vertically striped and two horizon- tally striped shelters (Fig. IB). Shelters were transparent plastic boxes (15x15x15 cm), which had three striped side walls and one open side, and were put on squares (25x20 cm) bordered by a light green line (Fig. 1A). The stripes were 2 mm black bands with 2 mm transparent intervals. A fish was placed in the center of the tank, and the time the fish spent in each square was recorded for 30 min. The fish was left in the tank and the next day its position was recorded again for 30 min. Five of the ten fishes of each species were tested under one arrangement of shelters (Fig. IB), and the other five were tested under the reverse arrangement. Preference for stripes by each species was tested by the two-tailed matched pairs signed test [7]. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In the first-day test, the two cross-striped spe- cies, C. kawamebari and M. chinensis, preferred
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ZOOLOGICAL SCIENCE 5: 501-503 (1988) ? 1988 Zoological Society of Japan [COMMUNICATION] Preference for Striped Backgrounds by Striped Fishes Yasutoshi Kohda and Munetaka Watanabe Department of Biology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Okayama University, Tsushima, Okayama 700, Japan ABSTRACT ? Six available species of freshwater fishes, two cross-striped, two lengthwise-striped and two non- striped ones, were exposed to vertically and horizontally striped backgrounds. The two cross-striped fishes pre- ferred to rest at vertically striped sites over horizontally striped ones. One of the two lengthwise-striped fishes tended to rest at horizontally striped sites. These results imply that many striped fishes prefer resting at sites with stripes similar to their own. The behavior of one non-striped fish suggests that there may be a factor other than a fish's own stripes that causes preference of vertically striped sites. INTRODUCTION Cryptic animals must merge with their back- grounds [1, 2]. It is known that some cryptic animals choose resting places appropriate to their body colorations [3-5]. Kohda and Watanabe [6] showed that the freshwater serranid fish oyani- rami, Coreoperca kawamebari, which has cross stripes on its body, chooses to rest at vertically rather than horizontally striped sites. Do cross-striped fishes other than the oyanirami have the same preference? Do lengthwise-striped fishes prefer horizontally striped sites? Do non- striped fishes have any preference between verti- cally and horizontally striped sites? In the present study, we tested the preferences of six available species of freshwater fishes including the oyani- rami for striped sites. MATERIALS AND METHOD Ten individuals from each of six species were Accepted August 31, 1987 Received July 13, 1987 used; two cross-striped fishes, C. kawamebari (7.8-8.8 cm in total length) and Macropodus chinensis (3.2-4.0 cm), two non-striped, Carassius auratus (6.3-8.0 cm) and Acheilognathus limbata (5.0-7.4 cm), and two lengthwise-striped, Barbus titteya (3.0-3.4 cm) and Melanochromis auratus (3.5-5.1 cm). The four former species were col- lected in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, while the latter two were obtained from a tropical-fish dealer. As all the specimens were small, we used an experimental apparatus different from that used in our previous study [6]. Instead, we utilized a gray plastic tank 150x100x50 cm high (20 cm deep), which had two vertically striped and two horizon- tally striped shelters (Fig. IB). Shelters were transparent plastic boxes (15x15x15 cm), which had three striped side walls and one open side, and were put on squares (25x20 cm) bordered by a light green line (Fig. 1A). The stripes were 2 mm black bands with 2 mm transparent intervals. A fish was placed in the center of the tank, and the time the fish spent in each square was recorded for 30 min. The fish was left in the tank and the next day its position was recorded again for 30 min. Five of the ten fishes of each species were tested under one arrangement of shelters (Fig. IB), and the other five were tested under the reverse arrangement. Preference for stripes by each species was tested by the two-tailed matched pairs signed test [7]. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In the first-day test, the two cross-striped spe- cies, C. kawamebari and M. chinensis, preferred
Preference for Striped Backgrounds by Striped Fishes : COMMUNICATION : Behavior Biology
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