ArticlePloS one2012
Handed foraging behavior in scale-eating cichlid fish: its potential role in shaping morphological asymmetry.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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18 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lateralized Gene Splicing in the Brain is Associated With Lateralized Feeding Behavior in an Asymmetrical Scale-eating Cichlid Fish.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Prey capture strategies relate to prey position in the scale-eating cichlid Perissodus microlepis.Biology open · 2026Article
- Insights into the genetic basis of bilateral head asymmetry in a scale-eating cichlid fish.Science advances · 2025Article
- Bilateral asymmetry in craniofacial structures and kinematics of feeding attacks in the scale-eating cichlid fish,Zoological research · 2025Article
- Preying on cyprinid snout warts (pearl organs) as a novel and peculiar habit in the Lake Malawi cichlid Docimodus evelynae.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Experience-dependent learning of behavioral laterality in the scale-eating cichlid Perissodus microlepis occurs during the early developmental stage.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Brain and Behavioral Asymmetry: A Lesson From Fish.Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2020Review
- Gene(s) and individual feeding behavior: Exploring eco-evolutionary dynamics underlying left-right asymmetry in the scale-eating cichlid fishEcology and evolution · 2018Article
- Specialized specialists and the narrow niche fallacy: a tale of scale-feeding fishes.Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- Tol2 transposon-mediated transgenesis in the Midas cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus) - towards understanding gene function and regulatory evolution in an ecological model system for rapid phenotypic diversification.BMC developmental biology · 2017Article
- Lateralized Feeding Behavior is Associated with Asymmetrical Neuroanatomy and Lateralized Gene Expressions in the Brain in Scale-Eating Cichlid Fish.Genome biology and evolution · 2017Article
- Genetic evidence for prevalence of alloparental care in a socially monogamous biparental cichlid fish, Perissodus microlepis, from Lake Tanganyika supports the "selfish shepherd effect" hypothesis.Ecology and evolution · 2016Article
- Article
- Genetic and environmental effects on the morphological asymmetry in the scale-eating cichlid fish, Perissodus microlepis.Ecology and evolution · 2015Article
- Evolutionary biology: Radiating genomes.Nature · 2014Article
- Measuring and evaluating morphological asymmetry in fish: distinct lateral dimorphism in the jaws of scale-eating cichlids.Ecology and evolution · 2013Article
- On the measurement of ecological novelty: scale-eating pupfish are separated by 168 my from other scale-eating fishes.PloS one · 2013Article
- Mouth asymmetry in the textbook example of scale-eating cichlid fish is not a discrete dimorphism after all.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Scale-eating cichlid fish, Perissodus microlepis, from Lake Tanganyika display handed (lateralized) foraging behavior, where an asymmetric 'left' mouth morph preferentially feeds on the scales of the right side of its victim fish and a 'right' morph bites the scales of the left side. This species has therefore become a textbook example of the astonishing degree of ecological specialization and negative frequency-dependent selection. We investigated the strength of handedness of foraging behavior as well as its interaction with morphological mouth laterality in P. microlepis. In wild-caught adult fish we found that mouth laterality is, as expected, a strong predictor of their preferred attack orientation. Also laboratory-reared juvenile fish exhibited a strong laterality in behavioral preference to feed on scales, even at an early age, although the initial level of mouth asymmetry appeared to be small. This suggests that pronounced mouth asymmetry is not a prerequisite for handed foraging behavior in juvenile scale-eating cichlid fish and might suggest that behavioral preference to attack a particular side of the prey plays a role in facilitating morphological asymmetry of this species.
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