Influence of social enrichment on transport stress in fish: a behavioural approach

Jones, Megan; Alexander, Mhairi E.; Lightbody, S.; Snellgrove, Donna; Smith, Peter; Bramhall, Sam; Henriquez, Fiona L.; McLellan, Iain; Sloman, Katherine A.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2023.105920

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…For instance, we assayed the subjects of the two species in the same arena and the koi carps were on average larger than the Nile tilapia. It has been shown that the relative size of the arena might affect behavioural responses (e.g., Jones, Alexander, et al, 2023;Jones, Cortese, et al, 2023;Lovin et al, 2023;Näslund et al, 2015). An additional methodological factor potentially involved is water temperature (Forsatkar et al, 2016), which we also kept constant for both species in spite of their different optimum (El-Sayed & Kawanna, 2008;Watson et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Part of the problem is related to the fact that excessively high stock density may determine negative effects (Turnbull et al, 2008), which can worsen other known welfare issues such as the lack of physical (Näslund & Johnsson, 2016) and cognitive enrichments (Varracchio et al, 2024). Moreover, reports have suggested that the effects of social enrichment may differ across fish species (Jones, Alexander, et al, 2023;Jones, Cortese, et al, 2023;Zhang, Fu, et al, 2022), which, if confirmed by direct testing, would require careful species-specific evaluation for welfare applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social buffering of behavioural stress response in two fish species, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and koi carp (Cyprinus carpio)

Pintos,

Lucon‐Xiccato,

Vera

et al. 2024

Ethology

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The presence of conspecifics plays a crucial role in mitigating stress responses in social teleost species and holds potential for enhancing welfare in captive fish. While studies on social buffering effects have typically focussed on single species, marked interspecific differences can exist. Here, we conducted an analysis of social buffering of stress response in two of the most extensively farmed fish, the Nile tilapia and the koi carp. Subjects were exposed to a behavioural stress response assay (open‐field test) in three conditions simulating increasing levels of social enrichment: isolation, pairs, or shoals of five fish. We obtained five stress indicators from the assay: thigmotaxis, freezing, activity, erratic movements and interindividual distance in conditions with more than one fish. In both species, erratic movements significantly decreased with increasing levels of social enrichment, suggesting a similar social buffering effect. However, other indicators revealed species differences. Koi carp, but not Nile tilapia, showed a socially‐mediated reduction in thigmotaxis, whereas Nile tilapia, but not Koi carp, showed a socially‐mediated reduction in freezing behaviour. Furthermore, social enrichment determined opposite effects on the activity of the two species: Nile tilapia were more active as group size increased, whereas the opposite trend was found in koi carp. Finally, Nile tilapia showed increased interindividual distance with increasing social group size, whereas no changes were observed for koi carp. Our study indicates that the buffering effects of social enrichment on the behavioural stress response do not completely overlap between different fish species, highlighting the importance of developing finely‐tuned species‐specific enrichments and welfare indicators.

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