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Shyer fish are superior swimmers in Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii)
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  • Lingli Xiang,
  • Xiangyuan Mi,
  • Weiwei Li,
  • Yingchao Dang,
  • Chaoshuo Zhang,
  • Yu Zeng,
  • Wei Jiang,
  • Hao Du,
  • William Twardek,
  • Steven Cooke,
  • Jianghui Bao,
  • Ming Duan
Lingli Xiang
Institute of Hydrobiology Chinese Academy of Sciences

Corresponding Author:1428913718@qq.com

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Xiangyuan Mi
Institute of Hydrobiology Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Weiwei Li
Institute of Hydrobiology Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Yingchao Dang
Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation
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Chaoshuo Zhang
Institute of Hydrobiology Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Yu Zeng
China West Normal University
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Wei Jiang
Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, China Three Gorges Corporation
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Hao Du
Ministry of Agriculture/Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fisheries Science
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William Twardek
Carleton University
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Steven Cooke
Carleton University
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Jianghui Bao
Institute of Hydrobiology Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Ming Duan
Institute of Hydrobiology Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Abstract

Differences in individual personality are common amongst animals, which can play an ecological and evolutionary role given links to fitness. Personality affects animal life processes and outputs (e.g., behavior, life history, growth, survival, reproduction), and has become a common theme in animal behavioral ecology research. In the present study, we used Siberian Sturgeon to explore how personality traits of boldness and shyness are related to swimming performance, post exercise recovery and phenotypic morphology. Firstly, our results indicated that the Siberian sturgeon juveniles of shyness were better swimmers, validating evolutionary biology trade-off theory. The critical swimming speed (Ucrit) of the shy groups was higher than that of the bold groups. Secondly, the shy groups were more resilient after exercise fatigue. The swimming fatigue recovery ability, the glucose and lactic acid concentration recovery ability of shy groups were greater than that of bold groups. Thirdly, the shy groups were more streamlined. Compared with bold groups, shy groups had smaller caudate stalk lengths, caudate stalk heights, superior caudal lobes, and inferior caudal lobes. These research results further enrich the theoretical viewpoints of fish behavior biology, more importantly, which provided a good example for studying the relationship between sturgeon’s “personality” and swimming performance.