Anti-Predator Responses of Fathead Minnows to Alarm Substance Pheromone

In some fish, alarm substances are released from skin cells when they are bitten by a predator, signaling nearby fish in potential danger. Such anti-predator defenses have been studied in the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), and some have hypothesized that the response to the alarm substance is not instinctual, but rather fish must learn to associate it with a predation cue such as motion. The purpose of this study is to detect an effect of conditioning (associating alarm substance with predation threat) on minnow responses to alarm substance. We tested the prediction that conditioned fish would react more strongly to the alarm substance cue than the unconditioned fish. This study observed this behavior in solitary minnows, since we are only aware of studies that observed groups. Our study revealed no significant differences in behavior between conditioned and unconditioned fish, whether in groups or solitary, when exposed to alarm substance