Predation history has no effect on lateralized behavior in Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora

Abstract

Evolutionary biologists have grown increasingly interested in laterality, a phenomenon where bilaterally symmetrical organisms show a side bias in some trait. Lateralized behavior is particularly interesting because it is not necessarily tied to morphological asymmetry. What causes lateralized behavior remains largely unknown, although previous research in fishes suggest that fish might favor one eye over another to view potential food sources, mates, and to assess predation risk. Here we test the hypothesis that a history of predation risk predicts lateralized behavior in the livebearing fish Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora. To do this, we used a detour assay to test for eye bias when a focal fish approached various stimuli (predator, potential mate, novel object, and empty tank control). Contrary to our predictions, we found no differences in lateralized behavior between fish from populations that co-occurred with fish predators relative to those that do not co-occur with predators. In fact, we found no evidence for behavioral lateralization at all in response to any of the stimuli. We explore several possible explanations for why lateralized behavior is absent in this species, especially considering a large body of work in other livebearing fishes that shows that lateralized behavior does occur.