Can sharks be shy? Gregarious? Well, just as with people, it depends on the shark, according to a new study inBehavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
Researchers recorded the social interactions of groups of juvenile small spotted catsharks (Scyliorhinus canicula) in captivity under three different habitat types. They found that the sharks demonstrated consistent behavior in each new location. When social sharks from one habitat were moved to other habitats they easily found friends in other tanks. And the loners remained alone.
“Well-connected individuals formed conspicuous groups, while less social individuals tended to camouflage alone, matching their skin color with the color of the gravel substrate in the bottom of the tank,” says lead author David Jacoby, of the Institute of Zoology in London.
Co-author Darren Croft of the University of Exeter adds, “We define personality as a repeatable behavior across time and contexts. What is interesting is that these behaviors differ consistently among individuals. This study shows, for the first time, that individual sharks possess social personalities.”
Image: Thomas Ernst/Wikipedia