BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

Fish differ consistently in behavior within the same species and population, reflecting distinct behavioral types (BTs). Comparing the behavior of wild and reared individuals provides an excellent opportunity to delve into the ecological and evolutionary consequences of BTs. In this work, we evaluated the behavioral variation of wild and reared juvenile gilthead seabreams, Sparus aurata, a highly relevant species for aquaculture and fisheries. We quantified behavioral variation along the five major axes of fish behavioral traits (exploration-avoidance, aggressiveness, sociability, shyness-boldness, and activity) using standardized behavioral tests and a deep learning tracking algorithm for behavioral annotation. Results revealed significant repeatability in all five behavior traits, suggesting high consistency of individual behavioral variation across the different axes in this species. We found reared fish to be more aggressive, social and active compared to their wild conspecifics. Reared individuals also presented less variance in their aggressiveness, lacking very aggressive and very tame individuals. Phenotypic correlation decomposition between behavioral types revealed two different behavioral syndromes: exploration-sociability and exploration-activity. Our work establishes the first baseline of repeatability scores in wild and reared gilthead seabreams, providing novel insight into the behavior of this important commercial species with implications for fisheries and aquaculture., This project was funded by the research project FISHOBES (Grant No. CTM2017-91490-EXP) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN). Marco Signaroli was supported by a “Ayudas para contratos predoctorales” (Grant No. PRE2020-095580) funded by MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and the FSE “invierte en tu futuro”. Aina Pons was supported by an FPI predoctoral fellowship (ref. FPI/2269/2019) from the Balearic Islands Government General Direction of Innovation and Research. Josep Alós received funding from the CLOCKS I+D+I project (Grant No. PID2019-104940GA-I00) and the JSATS PIE project (Grant No. PIE202030E002) funded by MCIN/AEI/https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 and the FSE “invierte en tu futuro”., Peer reviewed