Experience-dependent learning of behavioral laterality in the scale-eating cichlid Perissodus microlepis occurs during the early developmental stage

Behavioral laterality-typically represented by human handedness-is widely observed among animals. However, how laterality is acquired during development remains largely unknown. Here, we examined the effect of behavioral experience on the acquisition of lateralized predation at different developmental stages of the scale-eating cichlid fish Perissodus microlepis. Naive juvenile fish without previous scale-eating experience showed motivated attacks on prey goldfish and an innate attack side preference. Following short-term predation experience, naive juveniles learned a pronounced lateralized attack using their slightly skewed mouth morphology, and improved the velocity and amplitude of body flexion to succeed in foraging scales during dominant-side attack. Naive young fish, however, did not improve the dynamics of flexion movement, but progressively developed attack side preference and speed to approach the prey through predation experience. Thus, the cichlid learns different aspects of predation behavior at different developmental stages. In contrast, naive adults lost the inherent laterality, and they neither developed the lateralized motions nor increased their success rate of predation, indicating that they missed appropriate learning opportunities for scale-eating skills. Therefore, we conclude that behavioral laterality of the cichlid fish requires the integration of genetic basis and behavioral experiences during early developmental stages, immediately after they start scale-eating.

Automated summary

This study examined the effect of behavioral experience on the acquisition of lateralized predation in scale-eating cichlid fish. The results showed that juvenile fish learned lateralized attacks by modifying their mouth morphology and improving body flexion, while young fish developed attack side preference and speed through predation experience. However, naive adults lost the inherent laterality and did not improve their predation skills.