Female cleaner fish cooperate more with unfamiliar males
- Raihani, N. J. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society London, Regent's Park, London, NW1 4RY, UK
- Grutter, A. S. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia
- Bshary, R. Department of Zoology, Université de Neuchâtel, Rue Emilie Argand 11, 2007 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- 2012-2-22
Published in:
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. - The Royal Society. - 2012, vol. 279, no. 1737, p. 2479-2486
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Immunology and Microbiology
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
General Environmental Science
General Medicine
English
Joint group membership is of major importance for cooperation in humans, and close ties or familiarity with a partner are also thought to promote cooperation in other animals. Here, we present the opposite pattern: female cleaner fish,
Labroides dimidiatus,
behave more cooperatively (by feeding more against their preference) when paired with an unfamiliar male rather than with their social partner. We propose that cooperation based on asymmetric punishment causes this reversed pattern. Males are larger than and dominant to female partners and are more aggressive to unfamiliar than to familiar female partners. In response, females behave more cooperatively with unfamiliar male partners. Our data suggest that in asymmetric interactions, weaker players might behave more cooperatively with out-group members than with in-group members to avoid harsher punishment.
Joint group membership is of major importance for cooperation in humans, and close ties or familiarity with a partner are also thought to promote cooperation in other animals. Here, we present the opposite pattern: female cleaner fish,
behave more cooperatively (by feeding more against their preference) when paired with an unfamiliar male rather than with their social partner. We propose that cooperation based on asymmetric punishment causes this reversed pattern. Males are larger than and dominant to female partners and are more aggressive to unfamiliar than to familiar female partners. In response, females behave more cooperatively with unfamiliar male partners. Our data suggest that in asymmetric interactions, weaker players might behave more cooperatively with out-group members than with in-group members to avoid harsher punishment.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- hybrid
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1098/rspb.2012.0063
- ISSN 0962-8452
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/7970
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