TABLE 1.
Summary of studies suggesting that fishes use chemical communication in an aggressive context
| Species | Identity | Transmission | Behaviour elicited/function | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etta splendens | n.i. Pheromone | n.i. | Reduces aggressiveness in conspecifics | (Colyer & Jenkins, 1976) |
| Ictalurus nebulosus | n.i. Pheromone | n.i. | Signals dominance and increases aggression towards strangers | (Bryant & Atema, 1987) |
| Gasterosteus aculeatus | n.i. Chemical cue | n.i. | Promotes aggression from males and gravid females | (Waas & Colgan, 1992) |
| Carassius auratus | Androstenedione (pré‐ovulatory pheromone) | n.i. | Courtship and aggressive behaviour | (Poling et al., 2001) |
| Gobius niger | n.i Sexual pheromone. | Sperm | Attracts females and induces aggressive displays in males | (Locatello et al., 2002) |
| Oreochromis mossambicus | n.i. Pheromone | Urine | Signals social status to male rivals | (Almeida et al., 2005) |
| Danio rerio | n.i. Pheromone | n.i | Suppress other females' reproduction according to their social rank | (Gerlach, 2006) |
| Oreochromis mossambicus | n.i. Pheromone | Urine | Signals dominance and modulate aggression in rivals contributing to social stability | (Barata et al., 2007) |
| Oreochromis mossambicus | Pheromone aminosterol‐like | Urine | Signals of dominance, thereby influencing female spawning | (Barata et al., 2008a) |
| Oreochromis niloticus | n.i. Pheromone or chemical cue | n.i. | Water renewal increases aggression and leads to social instability | (Gonçalves‐de‐Freitas et al., 2008) |
| Pimephales promelas | n.i. pheromone (bile acids and/or volatile amines) | Urine | Signals dominance | (Martinovic‐Weigelt et al., 2012) |
| Oreochromis mossambicus | Multicomponent pheromone | Urine | Lowers aggression when added to a tank containing a male fighting its mirror image | (Keller‐Costa et al., 2016) |
| Neolamprologus pulcher | n.i. Pheromone | Urine | Communicate the aggressive propensity | (Bayani et al., 2017) |
| Oreochromis mossambicus | n.i. | Urine | Signals social dominance and fighting ability to avoid energetic costs and/or risk of injury in fights. Exposure to urine leads to 11KT response of subordinate males suggesting chemical eavesdropping | (Saraiva et al., 2017) |
| Porichthys notatus | n.i. Pheromone | Sperm | Dominant males suggest that accessory glands may play a role in parental care and chemical signalling | (Miller et al., 2019) |
| Cichlasoma paranaense | n.i. Pheromone/chemical cue | n.i. | Water renewal reduces aggression | (Gauy et al., 2019) |
Note. n.i., non‐identified.