ABSTRACT Many fish schools are regarded as leaderless, where any individual can guide the direction of group motion at any given moment. We conditioned a fish school of black neon tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) to find food in aparticular location, while another group swam freely with no particular goal. Groups were composed of similar individuals in terms of body size, task knowledge and hunger level. Our hypothesis was that leadership would be less stable when fish were conditioned than when they were not. Although stability tended to be greater in the conditioned group, the hypothesis was not confirmed, as both groups showed asimilar degree of leadership stability. Leadership was not entirely random and some individuals took the lead more often than others. Leaders tended to be at the front of the school and their tendency to lead was loosely related to higher swimming speeds, and not related to task knowledge.

中文翻译：

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黑色霓虹灯学校的领导力和集体运动：任务重要吗？

摘要 许多鱼群被认为是无领导的，任何个体都可以在任何给定时刻引导群体运动的方向。我们让一群黑色霓虹灯鱼 (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) 在特定位置寻找食物，而另一组则没有特定目标地自由游动。各组由体型、任务知识和饥饿程度相似的个体组成。我们的假设是，当鱼受到调节时，领导力会比不调节时更不稳定。尽管条件组的稳定性往往更高，但这一假设并未得到证实，因为两组都表现出相似程度的领导稳定性。领导并不是完全随机的，有些人比其他人更经常地带头。