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Repeatability of lateralisation in mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki despite evidence for turn alternation in detour tests

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Abstract

Akin to handedness in humans, some animals show a preference for moving to the left or right. This is often attributed to lateralised cognitive functions and eye dominance, which, in turn, influences their behaviour. In fishes, behavioural lateralisation has been tested using detour mazes for over 20 years. Studies report that certain individuals are more likely to approach predators or potential mates from one direction. These findings imply that the lateralisation behaviour of individuals is repeatable, but this is rarely confirmed through multiple testing of each individual over time. Here we quantify the repeatability of turning behaviour by female mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) in a double sided T-maze. Each female was tested three times in each of six treatments: when approaching other females, males, or an empty space; and when able to swim freely or when forced to choose by being herded from behind with a net. Although there was no turning bias based on the mean population response, we detected significant repeatability of lateralisation in five of the six treatments (R = 0.251–0.625). This is noteworthy as we also found that individuals tended to alternate between left and right turns, meaning that they tend to move back and forth along one wall of the double-sided T-maze. Furthermore, we found evidence for this wall following when re-analysing data from a previous study. We discuss potential explanations for this phenomenon, and its implications for study design.

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Data availability

The datasets and R code generated during the current study are available in supplementary materials. Video footage of the experimental procedure is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of ANU Animal Services for assistance with fish husbandry, and D. Roche for helpful comments on an early version of the manuscript.

Funding

The study was funded by the Australian Research Council (DP190100279 to MDJ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

    Ivan M. Vinogradov, Michael D. Jennions & Rebecca J. Fox

  2. Biological Data Science Institute, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

    Teresa Neeman

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  1. Ivan M. Vinogradov
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IMV, MDJ and RJF conceived and designed the study, IMV collected the data, IMV and TN analysed the data. All authors interpreted the data, co-wrote the manuscript and gave permission for publication.

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Correspondence to Ivan M. Vinogradov.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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All experimental procedures were carried out under approval from ANU Animal Ethics Committee (Approval #A2018/27) and complied with existing laws regulating the treatment of vertebrates in Australia. The collection of animals was conducted under a Scientific License from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government, granted under Section 21 of the Fisheries Act 2000, license number FS20188.

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Vinogradov, I.M., Jennions, M.D., Neeman, T. et al. Repeatability of lateralisation in mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki despite evidence for turn alternation in detour tests. Anim Cogn 24, 765–775 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01474-8

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