Replication alert: behavioural lateralization in a detour test is not repeatable in fishes

Behavioural lateralisation, defined as the asymmetric expression of cognitive functions, is reported to enhance key fitness-relevant traits such as predator escape performance, multitasking abilities, and group coordination. Therefore, studies reporting negative effects on lateralisation in fish due to environmental stressors such as ocean acidification, hypoxia, and pollutants are worrisome. However, such studies have focussed on population-level measures, without validating whether lateralisation is consistent within individuals across time. We conducted a multi-species, international assessment of the repeatability (R) of lateralisation in four previously studied fish species using the common detour test, and re-analysed a published dataset (on guppies) using new statistical methods. We expected the three shoaling species to exhibit greater within-individual consistency in lateralisation than their non-shoaling counterparts given previous reports of stronger lateralisation in group-living fishes. However, both absolute and relative lateralisation scores were highly non-repeatable in all five species (0.01<R<0.08). Thus, the commonly used detour test does not appear to be appropriate for quantifying behavioural lateralisation in fishes, calling into question inferences drawn by many published studies, including our own. As a consequence, potential anthropogenic effects on lateralisation as a proxy for adaptive brain functioning need to be assessed with alternative paradigms.