Challenging fear: chemical alarm signals are not causing morphology changes in crucian carp (Carassius carassius)

Published version of an article in the journal: Environmental Biology of Fishes. Also available at SpringerLink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9707-9 Crucian carp develops a deep body in the presence of chemical cues from predators, which makes the fish less vulnerable to gape-limited predators. The active components originate in conspecifics eaten by predators, and are found in the filtrate of homogenised conspecific skin. Chemical alarm signals, causing fright reactions, have been the suspected inducers of such morphological changes. We improved the extraction procedure of alarm signals by collecting the supernatant after centrifugation of skin homogenates. This removes the minute …