BODY COLOR AND SOCIAL FAMILIARITY ON SHOAL SELECTION OF CICHLIDS

In order to study the effects of body color and social familiarity on the shoal selection in cichlids, Sciaenochromis fryeri with a blue body color, was selected as the study object. White Hindongo socolofi and yellow Labidochromis caeruleus were chosen as stimuli to test whether experimental fish displayed a preference for specific color phenotypes, considering the controlled social familiarity of the shoal. Additionally, the study aimed to determine if experimental fish exhibited a preference for associating with shoal stimuli possessing a preferred color phenotype but were unfamiliar to the shoal. The results showed that when there was no difference in the social familiarity of shoal stimuli, both individuals and groups demonstrated a preference for associating with shoals of the preferred color phenotype. However, when stimulating fish with different social familiarity, individual S. fryeri showed an association with the more socially familiar shoal, while group experimental fish displayed a preference for the shoal with the preferred color shoal phenotype. The study show that body color exerts a greater influence on shoal selection than social familiarity. Body color emerges as a potentially significant shoal cue for cichlids, providing a foundation for exploring the ecological effects of body color (such as predator-prey interactions) within fish shoals.