Specialized movement and laterality of fin-biting behaviour in Genyochromis mento in Lake Malawi

ABSTRACT Several vertebrates, including fish, exhibit behavioural laterality and associated morphological asymmetry. Laterality may increase individual fitness as well as foraging strength, accuracy and speed. However, little is known about which behaviours are affected by laterality or what fish species exhibit obvious laterality. Previous research on the predatory behaviour of the scale-eating Lake Tanganyika cichlid Perissodus microlepis indicates behavioural laterality that reflects asymmetric jaw morphology. The Lake Malawi cichlid Genyochromis mento feeds on the fins of other fish, a behaviour that G. mento developed independently from the Tanganyikan Perissodini scale eaters. We investigated stomach contents and behavioural laterality of predation in aquarium to clarify the functional roles and evolution of laterality in cichlids. We also compared the behavioural laterality and mouth asymmetry of G. mento and P. microlepis . The diet of G. mento mostly includes fin fragments, but also scales of several fish species. Most individual G. mento specimens showed significant attack bias favouring the skew mouth direction. However, there was no difference in success rate between attacks from the preferred side and those from the non-preferred side, and no lateralized kinetic elements in predation behaviour. Genyochromis mento showed weaker laterality than P. microlepis , partly because of their different feeding habits, the phylogenetic constraints from their shorter evolutionary history and their origin from ancestor Haplochromini omnivorous/herbivorous species. Taken together, this study provides new insights into the functional roles of behavioural laterality: predatory fish aiming for prey that show escape behaviours frequently exhibit lateralized behaviour in predation.