THE INHERITANCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF MINNOW ANTIPREDATOR BEHAVIOR

European minnow, Phoxinus phoxinus, populations that occur sympatrically with pike, Esox lucius, a piscivorous predator, form more cohesive schools and have better integrated evasion tactics than fish from pike-free waters. The present study, which used two laboratory-reared populations of minnows, showed that anti-predator behaviour is inherited, but that it is modified on the basis of early experience (of a simulated predator attack). The greatest adjustment in anti-predator behaviour occurred in the minnows naturally sympatric with pike, suggesting a genetic predisposition to respond to early experience that varies between populations. © 1990 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.