title: Functional groups in the social behavior of a cichlid fish, the Oscar, Astronotus ocellatus.
abstract: Dummy conspecifics were presented to isolated adults of the cichlid fish Astronotus ocellatus to investigate the functional organization of cichlid social behavior. Body size and 15 dummy-elicited activities were recorded during 15 min sessions and analyzed by principal components analysis (PCA) to reveal their temporal organization. Five principal components explained almost 80% of the variation in dummy-elicited behavior, and these five factors define functional groups for Nest-oriented and attack modal action patterns are not mutually inhibitory during this time frame, and biting does not appear to function exclusively during an attack on a conspecific. Comparison with previous studies of New and Old World cichlids suggests evolutionary conservation of the functional organization of social behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA 16057, USA.
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Beeching