Shelter access is associated with subordinate submissiveness towards dominant males in a cooperatively breeding fish

Abstract Subordinate individuals within social groups vary in the degree to which they are tolerated by the dominant group members. Greater acceptance within the group can lead to improved access to crucial resources such as food or refuges from predation. Subordinate individuals may attempt to avoid conflict with dominant group members by showing submissive behaviours that signal deference and deescalate agonistic interactions. The role of submissive behaviour in increasing tolerance of dominants is often assumed but has rarely been explicitly examined. In the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher , shelter access is vital for survival given the intense predation pressure experienced in Lake Tanganyika. We conducted behavioural observations on 23 laboratory-housed N. pulcher social groups and investigated whether there is a relationship between submissiveness of subordinates and shelter access within their group territory. We found that subordinates displayed more submission per aggression received in interactions with dominant males compared to dominant females, and those that submitted more to the dominant male were permitted to spend more time within the shelters at the core of the territory. No association was found between submission shown to female dominants and shelter access. These findings highlight sex-specific differences in how dominants mediate territory access and suggest dominant males may play a greater role in enforcing the social hierarchy in N. pulcher groups.