Personality differences in white-spotted char fry evident between habitats

Abstract

Animal personality, defined as consistent individual differences in behavior across time and/or context, has been associated with individual dispersal tendencies in some species. White-spotted char (Salvelinus leucomaenis) populations, often found in above-dam watersheds in Japanese mountain streams, the dams preventing continuous distribution with lower stream reaches, were subject of a behavioral study comparing above-dam and open-stream behavior of fry. Fries were collected from an above-dam area and two open-stream areas within the Kame River system (southern Hokkaido), and personality quantified by measuring a suite of behaviors, such being repeated two-month later. Above-dam fry showed a shorter swimming duration against a novel object and mirror than open-stream fry. The latency time to catch food in above-dam fry tended to be longer than that of the latter. Swimming duration against a novel object and mirror were significantly correlated when data for both groups combined, but not so when data for each group were analyzed independently. These results suggest that personality traits in whitespotted char fry would be shaped by natural selection acting on each habitat, resulting in differing adaptive personality traits.