Data from: Characterization of stress coping style in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) juveniles and breeders for aquaculture

The aim of the present work was to characterise stress coping styles of Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) juveniles and breeders and to select an operational behavioural screening test (OBST) that can be used by the aquaculture industry to classify and select between behavioural phenotypes in order to improve production indicators. A total of 61 juveniles and 59 breeders were subjected to five individual behavioural tests and two grouping tests. At the end of the individual tests, all animals were blood sampled in order to measure cortisol, glucose and lactate. Three tests (restraining, new environment and confinement) characterized the stress coping style behaviour of Senegalese sole juveniles and breeders and demonstrated inter-individual consistency. Further the tests when incorporated into a PCA analysis (a) identified two principal axis of personality traits: “fearfulness-reactivity” and “activity-exploration”, (b) were representative of the physiological axis of stress coping style and (c) were validated by established group tests. The present study proposed for the first time three individual coping styles tests that reliably represented proactive and reactive personalities of Senegalese sole juveniles and breeders. In addition, the three proposed tests met some basic operational criteria (rapid testing, no special equipment and easy to apply and interpret) that could result attractive for fish farmers to identify fish with a specific behaviour that give advantages in the culture system and that could be used to establish selection-based breeding programs to improve domestication and production.