Interactions during feeding among certain coral reef fishes in Elat
✍ Scribed by G. Katzir; E. Schechtman
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag
- Year
- 1986
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 633 KB
- Volume
- 91
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0025-3162
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
From July 1983 to March 1984 coral reef fishes in Elat (Red Sea) were fed in novel feeding situations. Thalassoma r~ppelli had the shortest latency to first feed, Chaetodon ?aucifasciatus had the longest latency, while Sufflamen albicaudatus, Coris aygula and Lethrinus sp. had intermediate latencies. The mean number of T. r@pelli feeding at the beginning of experiments was higher than that of the other species. The difference decreased rapidly and disappeared within 90 s of the beginning. Latencies to first feed, and the number of fish feeding, were not correlated with the number of fish of each species in the study area.
Aggression was directed predominantly by S. albicaudatus and by C. aygula towards Lethrinus sp. and T. riippelli. It is suggested that these species which suffer more disturbances during their feeding and which receive more aggression are more likely to approach and feed more quickly in novel feeding situations.