Blog Post 6 - Aggressive Mimicry

So far, I have explored defensive mimicry in animals, specifically Batesian and Mullerian mimicry. In this week’s post I will explore aggressive mimicry. As introduced in my first blog, aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predatory organisms share/mimic similar signals to that of a harmless model, which allows them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host (Jackson and Cross, 2013). This form of mimicry can be compared to “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” strategy. Aggressive mimicry has evolved to improve foraging success (Glaudas and Alexander, 2017). It has been seen to involve various sensory modalities such as visual, acoustic, chemical, and vibrational, and it usually involves a single signal or variants of that signal (Glaudas and Alexander, 2017; Wignall and Taylor, 2010).  

Above is a classic example of aggressive mimicry. Lophiiformes or angler fish as they are more commonly known, use a visual form of sensory modalities as a signal to lure their prey into striking distance. By mimicking the flashing behaviours of their signal recivers prey, the angler fish has been able to increase it's foraging success. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melanocetus_murrayi_(Murrays_abyssal_anglerfish).jpg. Date Accessed: 17/04/2019

Communication plays a very important role in this form of mimicry. Predators communicate with prey by making signals to indirectly manipulate prey behaviour (Jackson and Cross, 2013). The manipulation of prey by aggressive mimics is indirect. This is because the predators/signal senders are not physically forcing prey/signal receivers to do something in particular, but rather the sender provides a specialized stimulus (i.e. a signal) to which the receiver responds by doing something in particular, with this response being orchestrated by the receiver's own perceptual and motor systems (Jackson and Cross, 2013). Communication requires at least two individuals and a signal. One individual (the ‘sender’) makes a signal to which the other individual (the ‘receiver’) responds in a way that is beneficial to the sender (Jackson and Cross, 2013). Aggressive mimicry evolves if the receiver is fooled into mistaking the mimic for the model and adjusts its behaviour in a way that benefits the mimic (Dalziell and Welbergen, 2016). Secondary interactions have been found to be important drivers of the evolutionary dynamics within aggressive mimicry. By emphasizing manipulation techniques instead of just information sharing, an aggressive mimic can gain access to resources rather than only receiving protection from predators as seen in defensive mimicry (Ruxton et al. 2004).

Aggressive mimicry examples are abundant and diverse. They range from flashing signals in Lampyrid beetles that attract and then consume male fireflies by mimicking the flash behaviour of female fireflies, to the sabre tooth blenny that poses a cleaner fish before ripping chunks of scales and fin off harmless, trusting larger fish and then flees (Ruxton et al. 2004; Sazima, 2002). Join me next week as I continue to explore aggressive mimicry in an interesting example. 

Top: A harmless bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) which is the unknowing model of below. Below: Sabre-toothed blenny (Aspidontus taeniatus) which is the aggressive mimic of the above cleaner wrasse. This is another example of a visual signal. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggressive_mimicry Date Accessed: 17/04/2019

References

Dalziell, A.H. and Welbergen, J.A., 2016. Mimicry for all modalities. Ecology letters, 19(6), pp.609-619.

Glaudas, X. and Alexander, G.J., 2017. A lure at both ends: aggressive visual mimicry signals and prey-specific luring behaviour in an ambush-foraging snake. Behavioral ecology and sociobiology, 71(1), p.2.

Jackson, R.R. and Cross, F.R., 2013. A cognitive perspective on aggressive mimicry. Journal of Zoology, 290(3), pp.161-171.

Ruxton, G.D., Sherratt, T.N., Speed, M., 2004. Avoiding attack: the evolutionary ecology of crypsis, warning signals and mimicry. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 Apr. 2019, from http://www.oxfordscholarship.com.elibrary.jcu.edu.au/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528609.001.0001/acprof-9780198528609-chapter-13.

Sazima, I., 2002. Juvenile snooks (Centropomidae) as mimics of mojarras (Gerreidae), with a review of aggressive mimicry in fishes. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 65(1), pp.37-45.

Wignall, A.E. and Taylor, P.W., 2010. Assassin bug uses aggressive mimicry to lure spider prey. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278(1710), pp.1427-1433.