Conditioned Alarm Behavior in Fathead Minnows (Pimephales promelas) and Test Their Ability of Differentiate Between Different Visual Stimulus (i.e. Red Light, Green Light and Blue Light)

Abstract

Fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were tested for their ability to associate predation risk with novel visual stimuli after visual stimulus was presented simultaneously with chemical alarm cues. Minnows gave a fright response when exposed to skin extract (chemical alarm cue) and an artificial visual light stimulus. When they were retested with light stimulus alone, the minnows that had previously been conditioned with alarm cues and light exhibited anti-predator behavior in response to the visual cue. To carry out this experiment, we hypothesized that fathead minnows would learn to associate predator risk stimulus with visual stimulus, and they would be capable to differentiate between the three different colors by showing associate response to the red color and no response to the green and blue lights. The results of this experiment have far-reaching implications because they provide important information on the role of visual stimuli in the ecological environment of fishes.