Anti-Predator Strategies in Fish with Contrasting Shoaling Preferences Across Different Contexts

In freshwater fish, group behavior is ecologically critical for daily activities such as predator avoidance. However, species with varying shoaling preferences exhibit divergent behavioral responses under different environmental conditions. This study investigated the behavioral responses of three shoaling species (<i>Moenkhausia costae</i>, <i>Puntius tetrazona</i>, and <i>Myxocyprinus asiaticus</i>) and three non-shoaling species (<i>Trichogaster trichopterus</i>, <i>Micropterus salmoides</i>, and <i>Cichlasoma managuense</i>) to simulated predation in either an open arena or a six-arm maze with shelter available. Our findings reveal that, in open water, shoaling species employ a dual strategy against predators: maintaining high group cohesion while increasing swimming speed and acceleration. This exploits the confusion effect to mitigate individual predation risk. In contrast, non-shoaling species do not engage in evasive maneuvers; instead, they adopt a cryptic strategy by minimizing activity and often freezing in place to avoid detection. In the six-arm maze, shoaling species consistently employed group coordination strategies, whereas non-shoaling species primarily relied on shelter concealment or reduced activity. Notably, shoaling species maintained high cohesion, synchronization, and activity levels across both open and complex habitats, using coordinated movement to facilitate collective escape. Together, our findings demonstrate that habitat complexity and social tendencies jointly determine how fishes trade off risk and safety. This work provides new insights into the adaptive evolution of social behavior in dynamic aquatic ecosystems.