Abstract
The aim of this project is to explain the occurrence of different behaviour patterns, such as boldness and exploratory tendency, within and between populations of Eurasian perch, Perca fluviatilis L. Furthermore, connections between these behaviours and growth rates in a common environment, and physiological stress response, will be studied. The perch has lately received an increasing interest as a novel species for fish farming. Performance in culture is assumed to be connected with innate traits in individual fish, which has been found in salmonid fishes. The knowledge about the development of individual traits and differences between populations in growth performance and stress levels is important for the selection of perch strains suitable for farming, both regarding welfare and production issues. Whether differences in behaviour and growth, already found between individual perch, are inherited or due to previous experience are crucial for the understanding of differences in performance in culture. This question will be studied in natural ponds and in aquarium experiments by comparing boldness and growth in fish from different populations raised in the same environment, and by investigating the consistency of behaviour across different contexts and over time.
Sweden