ALTERNATIVE STYLES IN THE EUROPEAN WRASSE, SYMPHODUS-OCELLATUS - BOLDNESS-RELATED SCHOOLING TENDENCY

Underwater field observations in a non-reproductive period revealed en ormous variation in schooling tendencies among individual european wra sses, Symphodus ocellatus. The fish occupying vegetated habitats displ ayed much more pronounced schooling tendencies than those from open ar eas. Sixteen solitary and schooling males were caught with a small sei ne and observed in a novel environment. The former individuals turned out to be much more bold and active than the latter in this test, whic h would suggest lower fear and higher exploratory tendency. It was hyp othesized that the bolder wrasses might appear as territorial nest-bui lders in the reproductive period, whereas the shyer ones are likely to play sneaky and satellite tactics.