Behavioural responses of fishes to abiotic stressors: A comparative synthesis of shared physiological mechanisms and ecological consequences.

Anthropogenic activities, including global warming, deforestation, urbanization, intensive agriculture, and aquaculture, are accelerating environmental change with consequences for aquatic ecosystems. As ectothermic vertebrates, fishes are sensitive to alterations in abiotic conditions, responding through behavioural changes that influence survival, reproduction, and species interactions. Although several studies have investigated the effects of abiotic stressors, comparative syntheses across stressors remain limited, constraining our understanding of how environmental drivers influence fish behaviour. In this review, we synthesize evidence on the impacts of six abiotic stressors, including temperature, hypoxia, acidification, turbidity, salinity, and ammonia, and examine the processes underlying responses. Across these stressors, behavioural alterations affect swimming performance, feeding, predator avoidance, social interactions, habitat selection, exploration, courtship, and anxiety-like behaviours. Despite differences in their primary modes of action, these stressors frequently converge on physiological disturbances involving oxidative stress, neurotransmitter regulation, sensory impairment, ion homeostasis, and energy metabolism, ultimately producing behavioural outcomes with ecological consequences. Most studies have been conducted under controlled laboratory settings, limiting ecological relevance. Furthermore, the combined effects of multiple abiotic stressors, together with long-term, multigenerational, and transgenerational responses, remain poorly understood despite their potential consequences for fish growth, reproduction, recruitment, and community structure. This review highlights the urgent need for integrative, multi-stressor, and multigenerational studies spanning diverse species, developmental stages, and ecosystems to improve predictions of fish responses under environmental change. By identifying shared and stressor-specific responses, this synthesis provides a conceptual framework for understanding how abiotic stressors affect fish through physiological pathways that ultimately converge on common behavioural outcomes with important ecological implications.