Aggression supersedes individual oxygen demand to drive group air-breathing in a social catfish.

ABSTRACT: Group-living is widespread among animals and comes with numerous costs and benefits. To date, research examining group-living has focused on trade-offs surrounding foraging, while other forms of resource acquisition have been largely overlooked. Air-breathing has evolved in many fish lineages, allowing animals to obtain oxygen in hypoxic aquatic environments. Breathing air increases the threat of predation, so some species perform group air-breathing, to reduce individual risk. Within species, individual air-breathing can be influenced by metabolic rate as well as personality, but the mechanisms of group air-breathing remain unexplored. It is conceivable that keystone individuals with high metabolic demand or intrinsic tendency to breathe air may drive social breathing, especially in hypox

SUBMITTER: Killen SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5765462 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature