Development of agonistic encounters in dominance hierarchy formation in juvenile crayfish

We have characterized the behavioural patterns of crayfish during agonistic bouts between groups of crayfish of four different body lengths (9-19, 20-32, 41-48 and 69-75 mm) to characterize changes in the patterns of agonistic encounter during development. The behaviour of both dominant and subordinate animals was analysed by single frame measurement of video recordings. Behavioural acts that occurred during agonistic bouts were categorized as one of seven types: capture, fight, contact, approach, retreat, tailflip and neutral. Dominant-subordinate relationships were formed between juvenile crayfish as early as the third stage of development. Patterns of agonistic bouts to determine social hierarchy became more aggressive during development. The dominant-subordinate relationship was usually determined after contact in crayfish of less than 20 mm and 20-32 mm in length, while several bouts of fights were necessary for crayfish of 41-48 and 69-75 mm in length. Furthermore, social hierarchy was formed more rapidly in small crayfish. In larger animals, the number of approaches by dominant animals that promoted retreat in subordinate animals increased after the establishment of the winner-loser relationship. In smaller crayfish, in contrast, no measurable changes in these behaviour patterns were observed before and after the establishment of the winner-loser relationship. With increasing body size, the probability of tailflips decreased while that of retreats increased as the submissive behavioural act of subordinate animals.