THE INFLUENCE OF SUBSTRATE COLOR ON THE ALARM RESPONSE OF TIDEPOOL SCULPINS (OLIGOCOTTUS-MACULOSUS, PISCES, COTTIDAE)

For animals that use crypsis to avoid predators, immobility reduces th e risk of detection. The magnitude of this immobility benefit depends upon the probability that a predator is present, since a predator must be present for crypsis to be valuable. Thus, cryptic animals typicall y reduce their movement rates upon detection of a nearby predator or s igns of its activity. Such a response occurs in tidepool sculpins (Oli gocottus maculosus) when presented with water-borne compounds released from the skin of injured conspecifics (HUGIE et al. 1991). The benefi t of immobility should also depend upon the animal's background, or su bstrate, since animals on a matching substrate achieve a higher level of crypticity than those on a nonmatching substrate, and have more to gain by remaining still. Therefore, we predicted that the response of tidepool sculpins to conspecific skin extract would involve a greater reduction in movement rates for fish on sand (matching) than for those on white (nonmatching) substrate. The results of a laboratory experim ent supported this prediction, with fish on sand showing a large decre ase in movement rates in response to skin extract, while the movement rates of those on white substrate remained unchanged.