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Abstract

In shoaling and schooling fish, being a part of a group means directly competing with group members for valuable resources. However, groups provide benefits that individuals would normally lack, such as safety in numbers and ease of mating access. When alone, the apparent benefits of a group are lost, and the behaviors of individuals may change based on social context. I investigated differences in the behavior of individual and grouped striped killifish, Fundulus majalis. Fish were observed alone and in groups using video recordings to score two traits: activity level, measured by the number of squares entered, and risk aversiveness, measured by position in the arena. Using these two tests both in isolation and with conspecifics, I determined that the presence of conspecifics resulted in individuals exhibiting significantly lower activity levels. Risk aversiveness was not significantly impacted.

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