Darter (Percidae: Etheostoma) species differ in their response to video stimuli

Video playback experiments offer unique opportunities for behavioural tests due to the breadth and ease of possible manipulations available to stimuli. However, serious limitations to video playback experiments exist, primarily the need to configure a technology designed for human vision to replicate stimuli for a nonhuman viewer. Here, we test the effectiveness of video playback for two species of freshwater fish, Etheostoma barrenense and Etheostoma zonale. The focal species are closely related sympatric species that have distinct male nuptial coloration. Dichotomous choice assays using video stimuli showed that female E. zonale prefer video of conspecific males whereas female E. barrenense showed no preference for videos of conspecific or heterospecific males. Comparisons of video trials to live trials indicate that response to video playback is comparable to responses to live stimuli in female E. zonale but not in female E. barrenense. Differences in monitor replication of species-specific coloration may account for the asymmetry in response, and future work should further test colour-based recognition of video stimuli in E. zonale. (C) 2017 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.