Department of Genetics and Marine Biotechnology, Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Powstańców Warszawy 55, 81-712, Sopot, Poland.
Fish Physiol Biochem. 2020 Apr;46(2):641-652. doi: 10.1007/s10695-019-00741-3. Epub 2019 Dec 13.
On the wild spawning grounds, the round gobies Neogobius melanostomus are subjected to different social cues, such as sex-separation and high fish density. We designed an experiment to stimulate natural social stress when fish are separated from opposite sex individuals and exposed to close proximity of same-sex conspecifics. We examined the effects of different sex compositions on aggressiveness and brain concentrations of arginine vasotocin (AVT) and isotocin (IT), as AVT and IT are known to be involved in aggressive interactions during reproduction. The round gobies were kept in three experimental groups: same-sex groups broken down into male-only and female-only groups and mixed-sex groups. In this study, males and females from same-sex groups showed overt aggression and competition. Separation stress stimulated aggressive responses in both sexes, but the link between brain AVT and IT concentration and aggressive behavior was evident only in male-only group. In the male-only group, AVT and IT levels were the highest. This study shows that sex composition of the social environment can affect aggressive behavior as well as AVT and IT concentration in the whole brain of the round goby.
在野生产卵场，圆鳍鱼 Neogobius melanostomus 会受到不同的社会线索的影响，例如性别分离和高密度鱼类。我们设计了一个实验，当鱼与异性个体分离并暴露于同性同种个体的近距离时，刺激自然的社会压力。我们研究了不同的性别组成对攻击性和大脑中精氨酸加压素 (AVT) 和催产素 (IT) 浓度的影响，因为已知 AVT 和 IT 参与繁殖期间的攻击性相互作用。圆鳍鱼被分为三个实验组：分为仅雄性和仅雌性的同性组和混合性别组。在这项研究中，同性组的雄性和雌性表现出明显的攻击性和竞争。分离应激刺激了两性的攻击性反应，但只有在仅雄性组中，大脑中 AVT 和 IT 浓度与攻击性行为之间存在联系。在仅雄性组中，AVT 和 IT 水平最高。这项研究表明，社会环境的性别组成可以影响圆鳍鱼的攻击性行为以及整个大脑中的 AVT 和 IT 浓度。
