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Landmark use and development of navigation behaviour in the weakly electric fish Gnathonemus petersii (Mormyridae; Teleostei)
Department of Psychology, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY 13617, USA
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: pcain{at}stlawu.edu)
Accepted 11 September 2002
African mormyrids, such as Gnathonemus petersii, migrate: nocturnally, from daytime shelters to find food and return by morning, and seasonally, spawning in swamps flooded during the rainy season. The present study examined whether the fish use landmarks detected via electrolocation to locate an aperture, whether they detect changes in landmark size and respond appropriately, whether landmarks or hydrostatic pressure are the primary cues for navigation and whether fish of different developmental stages behave differently with respect to landmarks and navigation. The fish's task was to locate and swim through a circular aperture in a wall dividing an aquarium into two compartments. Two groups of fish were trained to find the aperture with a landmark present, while a control group had no such landmark. The water level remained constant throughout training. At the end of training, the fish's task was to locate the aperture after the landmark size had changed or the water level had increased. The results show that G. petersii use landmarks to orient and navigate. They can detect changes in landmark size and will modify their locomotor behaviour to integrate the change into an internal representation. If the water level changes, increasing hydrostatic pressure, the fish orient to a landmark, if present. If no landmark is present, the fish rely on an internal representation oriented to hydrostatic pressure. Larger, early-adult G. petersii located the aperture faster than smaller, sub-adult fish.
Key words: electric fish, Gnathonemus petersii, electrolocation, landmark, spatial navigation, development, cognitive map
