User:Jckmena/Crucian carp

Predator Defenses
The variation in shape of a crucian carp can be very high. When cohabiting waters where predatory such as pike or perch fish are present, there occurs an induced change in the morphology of the population, from a sleeker to a deeper bodied form, into almost perfect disc shape with well-rounded fins, making it difficult for predators to swallow the crucian carp. However, since the deep-bodied morph is not permanent, it is expected that the trait must have some survivability trade-off in the absence of predators. For the crucian carp, the deep-bodied morphology has been found to exhibit trade-offs to immune function and resource allocation. For example, deep-bodied crucian carp have been shown to have a much lower level of baseline natural antibodies relative to the sleeker-bodied morphs. In addition, it has been found that crucian carp with the predator-induced, deep-bodied morphology exhibit reduced growth rates when compared to the sleeker-bodied counterparts.