Data from: Social cues can push amphibious fish to their thermal limits

Social context can impact how animals respond to changes in their physical
environment. We used an aggressive, amphibious fish, the mangrove rivulus
(Kryptolebias marmoratus) with environmentally-determined sociality to
test the hypothesis that social interactions would push fish to their
thermal limits. We capitalized on the propensity of rivulus to emerse from
warming water and demonstrated that social stimuli, produced by their
reflection, increased emersion threshold without changing critical thermal
maximum, effectively diminishing thermal safety margins. When rivulus were
denied air access, surface behaviours dramatically increased, supplanting
social interactions. This suggests that assessing the terrestrial
environment is crucially important. We conclude that social stimulation
narrows the scope for survival in naturally stressful conditions.