Personality and social behaviour in Mahseer

Deccan Mahseer is an endangered freshwater fish indigenous to the rivers of Southern and Central India. The declining populations of these fish are being supplemented by hatchery reared fish that are being reintroduced into these waters. Since hatchery reared fish typically have behavioural deficits which may lead to lower fitness and thus, inefficient restocking outcomes, we are looking at social learning as a possible means of mitigating such adverse effects. Since social learning depends on association with other individuals which in turn is related to behavioural traits such as exploration and sociability, we have constructed a detailed behavioural profile of these fish.

Fish can also change their behaviours based on their social environment. Modulation of social environment could be used to tweak the behavioural profiles of fish to suit the environment into which they will be released. We are now looking at how risk-taking behaviour changes based on the personality of a shoaling partner. We also attempt to analyze the nature of social interactions and the behavioural changes induced by these interactions using an agent-based model of a fish pair.