Reproductive Behaviors Of Terrestrial Animals

Introduction:
Organisms across various environments develop and displays complex behaviours. Terrestrial animals, such as lions, display evident social behaviours through the development of social structures called prides (Abell et al., 2013). Similarly, fish have developed numerous social, reproductive, and predatory behaviours that make them well adapted to various conditions. For example, observing reproductive behaviours of hermaphroditic reef fishes found that reproduction methods are species dependant, though there are similarities and overlaps (Petersen, 1987). In a study of Serranus faciatus, Petersen (1987) found that all individuals have fully functional gonads of both sexes (simultaneous hermaphrodite) however, the larger individuals will reabsorb their female gonads. This adaptation allows to fish to be better adapted for survival in their environment. Similarly, other species have developed unique reproductive, defensive, and predatory behaviours that help them survive in their respective environments. This essay will explore unique variations of schooling as a defensive …show more content…
Schooling, a common behavioural adaptation amongst prey fish, requires them to gather in a large group of fish swimming together (called a shoal). Once in a shoal, the fish adopt either passive or active technique to evade predation. Killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) use a passive predator deterrence technique wherein, simply forming a school in the presence of predators. Research suggests that a group of active prey fish reduce the chance of being caught simply by swimming in a shoal. This may be due to the challenges a predator faces in focusing on a single prey fish and thus has reduced success of predators when hunting schools of fish. This phenomenon was deemed the predator confusion effect (Morgan & Godin, 1985; Magurran, 1990; Neill & Cullen,