ArticlePloS one2016
Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Prefer and Are Less Aggressive in Darker Environments.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Immediate Background Color Choice in Male and FemaleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Survival Strategies and Color Preferences of Mandarin Fish (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Convergence on reduced aggression through shared behavioral traits in multiple populations of Astyanax mexicanus.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Effects of food quantity on aggression and monoamine levels of juvenile pufferfish (Takifugu rubripes).Fish physiology and biochemistry · 2021Article
- Animal welfare risks of global aquaculture.Science advances · 2021Review
- Research Before Policy: Identifying Gaps in Salmonid Welfare Research That Require Further Study to Inform Evidence-Based Aquaculture Guidelines in Canada.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2021Review
- Visual adaptation and microhabitat choice in Lake Victoria cichlid fish.Royal Society open science · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fish are capable of excellent vision and can be profoundly influenced by the visual properties of their environment. Ambient colours have been found to affect growth, survival, aggression and reproduction, but the effect of background darkness (i.e., the darkness vs. lightness of the background) on preference and aggression has not been evaluated systematically. One-hundred Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), a species that is increasing in popularity in aquaculture, were randomly assigned to 10 tanks. Using a Latin-square design, every tank was bisected to allow fish in each tank to choose between all the following colour choices (8 choices in total): black vs. white, light grey, dark grey, and a mixed dark grey/black pattern, as well as industry-standard blue vs. white, light grey, dark grey, and black. Fish showed a strong preference for black backgrounds over all other options (p < 0.01). Across tests, preference strength increased with background darkness (p < 0.0001). Moreover, having darker backgrounds in the environment resulted in less aggressive behaviour throughout the tank (p < 0.0001). These results provide the first evidence that darker tanks are preferred by and decrease aggression in salmonids, which points to the welfare benefits of housing farmed salmon in enclosures containing dark backgrounds.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.