SQ10203 Fish Behavior LAB REPORT 6

Name : CHIN WEI RONG Matric No. : BS12110088 Course : HS27 AQUACULTURE Date : 23/04/2013
Title
Schooling Behaviour of Juvenile Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) by Vision (Circular Statistics)

Introduction
Schooling behaviour is the interaction of a group of fish swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner. Fish require sensory systems which can respond with great speed to small changes in their position relative to their neighbour. Vision is important in schooling as they lose their schooling abilities after the dark. Also, schooling species often have "schooling marks" on their shoulders or the base of their tails, or visually prominent stripes, which provide reference marks when schooling. Other senses are also used, for example olfaction; fish use the sense of smell to detect the position of the neighbour whereby they releasing the pheromones. Besides, lateral line of fish aids in schooling by detecting the vibration in the water column which is produced by other neighbours. In this experiment, we test on the orientation of juvenile Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in a schooling environment based on their vision. We use juvenile snakehead fish (Channa argus) as the control in this experiment. The result of the orientation angle of Red Tilapia are calculated by using circular statistics to get the length of the mean vector, r, where it is between 0 1; if the r value near to 1, it indicates highly sensitive in the schooling behaviour of the two species of fish, while if the value near to 0, it means low sensitivity in the schooling behaviour.

Objective
To study the schooling behaviour of the juvenile Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) with their vision. To learn the circular statistics method by calculate the orientation of an angle in relation with the length of mean vector with components mean xi and yi .

Materials & Apparatus Freshwater, big flat-circular beaker, beaker, 2 juvenile Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), 1 juvenile snakehead fish (Channa argus), timer

Procedure
1. One tail of juvenile Red Tilapia (Orecochromis niloticus) is put into a beaker that filled with freshwater. 2. The beaker is then placed inside middle of a big flat-circular beaker which is filled with freshwater too. 3. A circular statistics paper is placed under the big flat-circular beaker. 4. Later, introduce a tail of juvenile snakehead fish (Channas argus) into the water column of the big flat-circular beaker. 5. Wait for 5 minutes, to let the fish acclimatize to the new environment. 6. Record the head direction of Red Tilapia (Orecochromis niloticus) that inside the beaker every 10 seconds for 10 minutes by using a timer. 7. Next, substitute the juvenile snakehead fish (Channas argus) in the big flat-circular beaker with another juvenile Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). 8. Repeat the step 5 and 6 for the same species (Red Tilapia) that introduced into the water column of the big flat-circular beaker.

Expriment I (control) : The Red Tilipia (Oreochromis niloticus) is the origins position, while the Snakehead fish (Channa argus) is the orientations position.

Expriment II : The Red Tilipia (Oreochromis niloticus) is the origins position, while the other Red Tilipia (Oreochromis niloticus) is the orientations position.

Result
Experiment I (control) ( different species) : Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) + Snakehead fish (Channa argus)

The distribution of orientation angle of the (origin) Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and the (orientation) Snakehead fish (Channa argus) over the circular statistics paper.

15 45 75 105 135 165 195 225 255 285 315 345

sin
0.2588 0.7071 0.9659 0.9659 0.7071 0.2588 -0.2588 -0.7071 -0.9659 -0.9659 -0.7071 -0.2588 Total :

Frequency, f 7 6 7 8 5 2 5 0 6 8 2 4 60

sin * f 1.8116 4.2426 6.7613 7.7272 3.5355 0.5176 -1.294 0 -5.7954 -7.7272 -1.4142 -1.0352 7.3298

15 45 75 105 135 165 195 225 255 285 315 345

cos
0.9659 0.7071 0.2588 -0.2588 -0.7071 -0.9659 -0.9659 -0.7071 -0.2588 0.2588 0.7071 0.9659 Total :

Frequency, f 7 6 7 8 5 2 5 0 6 8 2 4 60

cos * f 6.7613 4.2426 1.8116 -2.0704 -3.5355 -1.9318 -4.8295 0 -1.5528 2.0704 1.4142 3.8636 6.2437

Mean for the sum of sin : 7.3298 / 60 = 0.1222

Mean for the sum of cos : 6.2437 / 60 = 0.1041

The value of the length of the mean vector, r : r= 0.1605

Experiment II (same species) : Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) + Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

The distribution of orientation angle of the (origin) Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and the (orientation) Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) over the circular statistics paper.

15 45 75 105 135 165 195 225 255 285 315 345

sin
0.2588 0.7071 0.9659 0.9659 0.7071 0.2588 -0.2588 -0.7071 -0.9659 -0.9659 -0.7071 -0.2588 Total :

Frequency, f 15 4 8 9 5 4 0 1 1 0 3 10 60

sin * f 3.882 2.8284 7.7272 8.6931 3.5355 1.0352 0 -0.7071 -0.9659 0 -2.1213 -2.588 21.3191

15 45 75 105 135 165 195 225 255 285 315 345

cos
0.9659 0.7071 0.2588 -0.2588 -0.7071 -0.9659 -0.9659 -0.7071 -0.2588 0.2588 0.7071 0.9659 Total :

Frequency, f 15 4 8 9 5 4 0 1 1 0 3 10 60

cos * f 14.4885 2.8284 2.0704 -2.3292 -3.5355 -3.8636 0 -0.7071 -0.2588 0 2.1213 9.659 20.4734

Mean for the sum of sin : 21.3191 / 60 = 0.3553

Mean for the sum of cos : 20.4734 / 60 = 0.3412

The value of the length of the mean vector, r : r= 0.4926

Observation
In the control experiment (experiment I), the head direction of the juvenile Red Tilapia does not following the movement of the juvenile Snakehead fish (Channa argus) in the water column of the big flat-circular beaker. They swim at random movement. In the experiment II, we observed that the head direction of the juvenile Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in the beaker following the movement of the other Red Tilapia in the water column of the big flat-circular beaker. They swim in the same direction.

Discussion
From this experiment, the using of same species of fish, Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) on the test of schooling behaviour resulted that the distribution angle of orientation of head direction mostly falls in the range of 330 0 and 0 30. This means the Red Tilapia using the vision to follow its neighbour in a close way. However, the using of different species of fish, Snakehead fish (Channa argus) shows a negative result on the schooling behaviour, where the angle of orientation of head direction are randomly distributed. Not a specific range of angle recorded in high frequency. From the calculation by using the circular statistics, the length of the mean vector, r of the control experiment (experiment I) is 0.1605, which is close to 0, it shows that the sensitivity of the head direction of Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) towards the movement of the Snakehead fish (Channa argus) is very low. This also brings out the meaning that there is no schooling behaviour between this 2 different species of fish. This is because fish using their vision to follow which species belong to them. Moreover, there is a prey and predator relationship here, where Red Tilapia runs away from the vision of Snakehead fish. While for the experiment II, the length of the mean vector, r of the experiment II is 0.4926 (moderate sensitivity). However, it is still considering a highly sensitive of schooling behaviour when compared to the control experiment (experiment I). The using of same species of fish Red Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) shows weak positive result of schooling behaviour. This is because the fish rely on both vision and on hydrodynamic signals relayed through its lateral line. In order to get the length of the mean vector, r close to 1 (highly sensitive), the use of beaker is not encouraged, because lateral line of Red Tilapia inside the beaker cannot detect the vibration of water that produced outside the beaker. Furthermore, Red Tilapia will easily follow or near a few numbers of conspecifics compared to an individual of conspecifics, which the Red Tilapia usually perceived an individual as a mate, not a schooling group, but larger numbers of conspecifics in a group does matter.

Conclusion
An individual fish of a schooling species of fish will select to be a member of (near) a conspecific school, rather than be a member of (near) a school of heterospecifics. An individual fish of a schooling species of fish will select to be a member of (near) a large school of conspecifics, rather than be a member of (near) a small school of conspecifics.