Concede or clash? Solitary sharks competing for food assess rivals to decide
Résumé
To adapt to their environment, organisms can either directly interact with
their surroundings or use social information (i.e. information provided by
neighbouring individuals). Social information relates to the external features
of surrounding peers, and little is known about its use by solitary species.
Here, we investigated the use of social cues in a solitary marine predator
by creating artificial aggregations of free-ranging sicklefin lemon sharks
(Negaprion acutidens). Using a novel monitoring protocol, we analysed
both dominance interactions and tolerance associations between sharks com-
peting for food in relation with the number, the morphology and the
behaviour of rivals. Sharks produced more agonistic displays and spent
more time around the bait as competitors were more abundant. Moreover,
the morphological attributes of competitors had very limited influence on
the structure of shark social interactions. Instead, sharks appeared to estab-
lish tolerance relationships with competitors according to their individual
behaviour. Furthermore, the more two sharks were observed together at a
given study site, the fewer agonistic interactions they exchanged. We discuss
these findings as evidence of the use of social cues in a non-gregarious
predatory species and suggest directions for future research.