A fish that escapes towards looming-disk stimuli

Escape responses are an essential part of the behavioural repertoires of almost all animals. In fish, it is thought that conserved circuits map retinal position to motor activity so that escapes are typically away from visual looming-disk stimuli. In support of this view, it has recently been demonstrated that this even causes reef fish to initially flee away from a secure shelter. Here, we provide a clear counterexample to the view that fish are generally bound to use similar and conserved circuitry. In shell-dwelling cichlids, visual looming-disk stimuli elicited but did not direct rapid escape C-starts. Rather, the initial direction of their C-starts was in the direction of their shell, even if this required the fish to start right towards the looming disk.