Abstract
Animals use sensory stimuli either to assess and select habitats, mates or food, as well as for communication. The present study aimed to understand the behavioural processes enabling several Chaetodon species (butterflyfishes) to locate one of their food sources (epibionts present on pearl oyster shells) at Rangiroa atoll (French Polynesia). Among the five species tested, our 2-channel choice flume chamber experiments identified three species that were attracted to their food source by chemical stimuli. HPLC experiments showed that pearl oysters and epibionts have specific and unique chemical fingerprints, either one or nine specific peaks, respectively. Overall, chemical stimuli are emitted by both epibionts (used directly by Chaetodon auriga, C. lunula and C. citrinellus) and live pearl oysters (used indirectly by C. auriga and C. lunula) to locate their food source. Biosynthesis of these chemical stimuli could be used to artificially attract butterflyfishes to pearl oyster rearing stations in order to increase the natural cleaning of pearl oyster shells and thus reduce one large cost for this aquaculture.
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Acknowledgements
Centre IRD Tahiti and Noumea (J. Iltis, P. Dumas, D. Ponton), Tropical Fish Tahiti (A. Lerebours), CRIOBE (R. Galzin, S. Planes), Service de la Perliculture (M. Bellais) and Service de la Pêche (G. Remoissenet) of French Polynesia for kindly agreeing to house this study in their facilities. This research was supported by grants from ANR (ANR-06-JCJC-0012-01), MOM (06 PF 15) and CRISP program (Coral Reef Initiatives in the South Pacific—C2A1).
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Lecchini, D., Mills, S.C., Brié, C. et al. Chemical stimuli in coral reefs: how butterflyfishes find their food. Environ Biol Fish 91, 303–309 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-011-9785-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-011-9785-3