Social enhancement and social inhibition of foraging behaviour in hatchery-reared Atlantic salmon |
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Authors: | C Brown K Laland |
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Institution: | Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, Madingley, CB3 8AA, Cambridge, U.K. |
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Abstract: | The results of two experiments showed that observation of a trained conspecific Atlantic salmon Salmo salar significantly increased the rate at which naïve hatchery-reared fish accepted novel, live prey items, whereas the presence of an untrained conspecific actually decreased learning rates due to social inhibition. Pre-release training involving exposure of hatchery-reared fish to live prey items in the presence of pre-trained demonstrators would result in a significant enhancement in their foraging success on release and help prevent starvation, which is thought to be one of the principal causes of post-release mortality in hatchery-reared fishes. |
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Keywords: | social enhancement inhibition Atlantic salmon foraging hatchery |
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