Abstract
Data files and R markdown for manuscript: "No evidence of transitive inference without direct interactions in a socially-controlled sex-changing fish."
Dominance hierarchies require individuals to evaluate their relationships with other group members using a myriad of social interactions, cues, and inference. Interacting directly with every group member is time consuming and energetically costly, thus advanced cognitive mechanisms have evolved to facilitate hierarchy formation. One such mechanism is transitive inference (TI), in which individuals deduce unknown relationships (e.g., A>C) from known ones (e.g., A>B and B>C). TI has been demonstrated across a wide range of taxa. Here, we test whether female New Zealand spotty wrasse (Notolabrus celidotus), a socially-controlled protogynous (female-to-male sex changing) species, are capable of TI by observing multiple dyadic contests within an established hierarchy, without any direct interactions. Our results suggest that spotty wrasse do not use TI from their observations alone. Instead, direct interactions may be necessary or alternative behavioral mechanisms may be sufficient for hierarchy formation in this species.