Agonistic behavior involves the displays that arise when conspecifics compete for valuable resources such as territory. After conflict resolution, dominants obtain priority access to the resource while subordinates lose it. We aimed to evaluate how agonistic encounters mediate the acquisition of different sized territories in the weakly electric fish, Gymnotus omarorum, a species that displays a well-documented non-breeding agonistic behavior very unusual among teleosts. When tested in intrasexual and intersexual dyads in small arenas, a sex-independent dominant-subordinate status emerged after highly aggressive contests in which subordinates signaled submission by retreating and emitting submissive electric signals. We staged dyadic agonistic encounters in a large arena, in which the initial interindividual distance resembled the one observed in nature. We observed the emergence of a dominant-subordinate status after longer but milder contests with rare electric signaling of submission. We found the persistence of dominance over time with no outcome reversion. We observed how dominants exclude subordinates from their conquered resource during all the recording time. Although the territorial behavior of Gymnotus has been put forth since pioneer reports, this is the first study to show how agonistic behavior depends on the territory size in this genus. Agonistic encounters of G. omarorum in the small arena resemble the characteristics of violent-like behaviors. The ease of shifting from mild to high levels of aggression due to confinement, together with the use of electrical signaling of submission, makes this species an excellent model to explore new perspectives in territoriality assessment.

中文翻译：

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弱电鱼Gymnotus omarorum的非繁殖地域和领土规模对侵略的影响

竞争性行为涉及当特定物种竞争诸如领土之类的宝贵资源时出现的显示。解决冲突后，主导者获得对资源的优先访问权，而下属则失去了对该资源的访问权。我们的目的是评估在弱电鱼Gymnotus omarorum中，激动性的相遇如何介导获取不同大小的领土，这种物种表现出有据可查的非繁殖激动行为，在硬骨鱼中非常罕见。在小竞技场的两性和两性双性恋中进行测试时，经过高度激进的比赛后，出现了与性别无关的显性从属状态，下属通过撤退和发出顺从的电信号来表示服从。我们在一个广阔的舞台上进行了二元对角线的相遇，其中最初的个体间距离类似于自然界中观察到的距离。我们观察到，在进行了较长但较温和的比赛后，出现了显性的从属状态，并且很少有顺从的电信号。我们发现，随着时间的流逝，优势地位将持续存在，而结果却不会恢复原状。我们观察了主导者如何在所有记录时间内将下属从其征服的资源中排除。虽然领土行为自先驱者报道以来，人们就提出了Gymnotus，这是第一项显示激动行为如何取决于该属的区域大小的研究。在小场所中，胃炎小球菌的激动相遇类似于暴力行为。由于局限性，从轻度侵略性转变为高度侵略性的难易程度，以及使用顺从性电信号使该物种成为探索领土评估新观点的极佳模型。