Two types of dominant male cichlid fish: behavioral and hormonal characteristics.

Male African cichlid fish, Astatotilapia burtoni, have been classified as dominant or subordinate, each with unique behavioral and endocrine profiles. Here we characterize two distinct subclasses of dominant males based on types of aggressive behavior: (1) males that display escalating levels of aggression and court females while they establish a territory, and (2) males that display a stable level of aggression and delay courting females until they have established a territory. To profile differences in their approach to a challenge, we used an intruder assay.

Brains over brawn: experience overcomes a size disadvantage in fish social hierarchies.

Life experiences can alter cognitive abilities and subsequent behavior. Here we asked whether differences in experience could affect social status. In hierarchical animal societies, high-ranking males that typically win aggressive encounters gain territories and hence access to mates.

Transmission dynamics of heritable silencing induced by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Heritable silencing effects are gene suppression phenomena that can persist for generations after induction. In the majority of RNAi experiments conducted in Caenorhabditis elegans, the silencing response results in a hypomorphic phenotype where the effects recede after the F1 generation. F2 and subsequent generations revert to the original phenotype.