European minnow

European minnow phoxinus Both sexes Alarm pheromone Bradycardia Pfeiffer and Lamour, 1976... 

In minnows, taste is not sufficient for predator recognition. Anosmic fathead minnows, P. pmmelas, did not show the flight reaction to the odor of northern pike, Esox lucius (Chivers and Smith, 1993). Naive European minnows, Phoxinus phoxinus, do not exhibit a fright reaction when first exposed to a predator odor, such as that of pike, E. lucius. They develop a conditioned fright response only after experiencing the predator odor in dangerous circumstances, such as when accompanied by schreckstoff (alarm pheromone) of conspecifics. Responses to the odor of non-piscivorous fishes such as tilapia, Tilapia mariae, can also be conditioned in this fashion but the responses are much weaker (Magurran, 1989). 

Acquired recognition of predator odour in the European minnow (Phoxinus phox-inus). Ethology 82,216-223. 

The cabbage worm butterfly Pieris rapae crucivora and the sulfur-colored Catopsilia crocale are both found to afford the anticancer component isoxanthopterin (67) (57). In addition, isoxanthopterin (67) from the skin of the European minnow, Phoxinus phoxinus, elicits the fright reaction and hence acts as the alarm substance (52). 

To illustrate how the general process described above could be performed, an imaginary case study is described in this section, using a simple QSAR for nonpolar narcosis to the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas). This QSAR was chosen because it represents a simple, relatively well-understood endpoint for toxicity. Furthermore, the endpoint is included in OECD Test Guideline 203 on the Fish Acute Toxicity Test (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1992), and the QSAR is recommended by the EU TGD (European Economic Community, 1996). A further consideration was the availability of test data to form an external test set. 

It can be imagined that a QSAR for acute aquatic toxicity was selected by an independent body during a literature review of available QSARs, including the final report of a Directorate General (DG) Research Project (European Economic Community, 1995). In particular, the following QSAR for predicting the acute toxicity of organic chemicals to the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) was reported ... 

Minnow (Pimephales promelas). The three-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is included because an embryo test has been recently developed (Eriksson 2007) and because this species is receiving increasing attention as a test species representative for European coastal and inland waters. 

Sanchez-Galan S, Linde AR and Garcia-Vazquez E (1999) Brown trout and European minnow as target species for genotoxicity tests differential sensitivity to heavy metals. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 43 301-394. 

Fig. 24.1 Some fish species used in pheromone research European eel (Anguilla anguilla), goldfish (Carassius auratus), fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), coho salmon (Oncor-hynchus kisutch), and sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)...

Naish KA, Carvalho GR, Pitcher TJ (1993) The genetic structure and microdistribution of shoals of Phoxinusphoxinus, the European minnow. J Fish Biol 43(suppl A) 75-89... 

Irving, P.W. 1996. Sexual dimorphism in club cell distribution in the European minnow and immunocompetence signaling. J. Fish Biol., 48, 80-88... 

Irving, P.W. Magurran, A.E. 1997 Context-dependent fright reactions in captive European minnows the importance of naturalness in laboratory experiments Animal Behaviour, 53,193—1201. 

There is no direct experimental evidence to show that the fright reaction actually improves the survival of the receiver. There are, however, a number of correlations between the fright reactions shown by various fish when they detect alarm substance and their reactions to other indicators of predation. The most general type of reaction in schooling fish is for the school to aggregate and move away from the area of the stimulus. This type of response was first recorded in the European minnow by von Frisch (1938) and has since been observed in many species (Pfeiffer, 1977). 

---