Habituation and Covariation of the Components of the Threat Display in Betta Splendens

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Abstract
The threat display of the Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens, was repeatedly elicited during daily sessions over a 10-day period, using a mirror, a live Betta, and a picture of a Betta as stimuli. Between-day analysis of the rate of elicitation of component responses of the display by 6 Ss showed that (a) for those records in which any decline in response frequency was evident, only the gill-cover extension and undulation responses showed marked and consistent habituation trends, (b) gill-cover extension and undulation response rates covaried closely but were not consistently related to other response component rates, and (c) differential effectivensss of the three stimuli was reflected in the rates of several response components.