Behavioral and neurophysiological responses of European sea bass groups reared under food constraint

The individual food-demand behavior of juvenile European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, L.) reared in groups under self-feeding conditions was investigated. The triggering activity on self-feeder, i.e. index of the food-demand activity, agonistic interactions and territorial behavior were monitored for periods of 42 to 68 days in six groups of 50 fish. The specific growth rate was calculated and the brain serotonergic activity was used as a stable index of social stress. Inter-individual differences appeared in triggering activity and three groups were distinguished: 3–5 high-triggering fish, 17–30 low-triggering fish and the remaining individuals were null-triggering fish. There were no significant differences in specific growth rates calculated at the end of the experiment (day 42 or day 68) between individuals with high, low, and null food-demand (ANOVA, p > 0.05). No territorial or agonistic behaviors were observed, however, there were significant differences in brain serotonergic activity between the three triggering groups (ANOVA, p = 0.050 in telencephalon and p = 0.004 in cerebellum). Specifically, high-triggering fish had lower serotonergic turnover than low or null-triggering fish. We put forth the hypothesis that fish with low or null-triggering activity could be stressed by the high activity of high-triggering individuals.