Abstract Limited attention constrains predators from engaging in cognitively demanding tasks such as searching for cryptic prey at the same time as remaining vigilant towards threats. Since finite attention can result in negative correlations between foraging and vigilance, the tendency of individual predators to focus attention on searching for cryptic prey may be correlated with other behavioural traits which reflect risk-reward trade-offs, such as consistent inter-individual variation in boldness (a personality trait describing risk-taking, defined in this study as the time taken to leave a refuge). We investigated the importance of personality in prey detection by comparing inter-individual variation in the response of three-spined sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) to conspicuous and cryptic prey. Fish were slower to attack cryptic prey than conspicuous prey, consistent with cryptic prey being harder to detect. Despite the greater challenge involved in detecting cryptic prey, inter-individual variation in the time taken to detect prey was similar in the cryptic and conspicuous prey treatments, and was uncorrelated with boldness, which was repeatable between individuals. We also observed a positive association between the rate of attack on conspicuous prey and whether individual fish attacked cryptic prey in other trials. Our findings suggest that boldness is not related to prey detection or attention in this context. Instead, consistent differences in motivation once exploration has begun between individual predators may explain inter-individual variation in the time taken to attack both prey cryptic and conspicuous prey. Significance statement Using an experimental approach to manipulate the conspicuousness of prey, we show that individual fish consistently differ in their rates of attacking prey. This demonstrates that fish show “personality variation” in predatory behaviour, but these inter-individual differences were not related to the boldness of each fish (their tendency to engage in risky behaviours).

中文翻译：

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捕食者个性和猎物检测：个体间对神秘和显眼猎物的反应差异

摘要 有限的注意力限制了捕食者在对威胁保持警惕的同时从事认知要求高的任务，例如寻找神秘的猎物。由于有限的注意力会导致觅食和警觉之间的负相关，个体捕食者将注意力集中在寻找神秘猎物上的倾向可能与反映风险回报权衡的其他行为特征相关，例如个体间一致的个体差异。大胆（描述冒险的个性特征，在本研究中定义为离开避难所所需的时间）。我们通过比较三刺棘鱼 (Gasterosteus aculeatus) 对显眼和神秘猎物的反应的个体间差异，研究了个性在猎物检测中的重要性。与显眼的猎物相比，鱼攻击隐秘猎物的速度更慢，这与隐秘猎物更难被发现是一致的。尽管检测神秘猎物面临更大的挑战，但在神秘和显眼的猎物处理中，检测猎物所需时间的个体间差异是相似的，并且与大胆无关，这在个体之间是可重复的。我们还观察到对显眼猎物的攻击率与其他试验中个别鱼是否攻击神秘猎物之间存在正相关。我们的研究结果表明，在这种情况下，大胆与猎物检测或注意力无关。相反，一旦个体捕食者之间开始探索，动机的一致差异可能解释了个体之间在攻击隐蔽和显眼猎物所需时间上的差异。意义声明 使用实验方法来操纵猎物的显眼性，我们表明个体鱼在攻击猎物的速度上始终不同。这表明鱼在捕食行为中表现出“个性差异”，但这些个体间差异与每条鱼的胆量（它们从事危险行为的倾向）无关。