Plasticity of sex-biased aggression in response to the sex of territory intruders in an African cichlid fish, Julidochromis marlieri

Behavior is often linked to gonadal sex; however, ecological or social environments can induce plasticity in sex-biased behaviors. In biparental species, pairs may divide offspring care into two parental roles, in which one parent specializes in territory defense and the other in nest care. The African cichlid fish Julidochromis marlieri displays plasticity in sex-biased behaviors. In Lake Tanganyika, J. marlieri form female-larger pairs in which the female is more aggressive than the male who performs more nest care, but under laboratory conditions, male-larger pairs can be formed in which these sex-biased behaviors are reversed. We investigated the influence of social environment on behavior by observing how individuals in both pair-types respond to conspecific intruders of either sex. We examined behavioral responses to three factors: sex of the subject, relative size of the subject, and the sex of the intruder. We confirm that relative size is a factor in behavior. The larger fish in the pair is more aggressive than the smaller fish is towards an intruder. While neither fish in the female-larger pairs varied their behaviors in response to the sex of the intruder, both members of the male-larger pairs were sensitive to intruder sex. Both individuals in the male-larger pairs engaged in more biting behaviors towards the intruder. Intruder biting behaviors strongly correlated with the biting behavior of the larger individual in the pair and occurred more frequently when encountering pairs with same sex as the larger fish when compared to pairs with the same sex as the smaller fish. Our results support the role of the social environment as a contributor in the expression of sex-biased behavior.