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A kinematic investigation into the feeding behavior of the Goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara

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Abstract

Goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara suffered significant overfishing in the United States until they were protected from harvest in 1990. As the population recovers, interactions between Goliath grouper and anglers have increased, and are often reported to management agencies as complaints after grouper predation upon hooked fish. Goliath grouper are generally characterized as opportunistic predators capable of consuming a wide variety of prey types; however, minimal data are available regarding the prey capture behavior of this species. Kinematic analyses of adult Goliath grouper feeding events demonstrated the capacity of individuals to modulate feeding behavior based upon the mobility and position of ‘prey’ items. Mobile epibenthic food (tethered swimming fish) elicited larger maximum gapes, faster times to food capture, shorter times to mouth closing, and more rapid total bite durations than food items that were not moving (cut dead bait). Feeding sequences involving mobile food items were characterized by a significantly higher degree of ram feeding behavior, while immobile food elicited primarily suction feeding and were preceded by a slower and closer approach to the food item prior to the onset of mouth opening. The findings are discussed in light of predation upon angled species and demonstrate the ability of Goliath grouper to adjust their feeding strategy based upon prey type and condition. This behavior likely allows for the exploitation of a wide variety of prey and provides an expansive dietary breadth for these opportunistic predators.

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Acknowledgments

Captain K. McWhorter provided invaluable field assistance and was responsible for fabricating a large portion of the equipment set-up used during feeding trials. We would like to thank the Porter Family Foundation for travel and equipment support throughout the duration of this research. K. Flaherty-Walia, M. L. Habeggar, and D. Huber provided valuable suggestions for kinematic analysis. Thanks to K. McWhorter, J. Williams, C. Monzon-Aguirre and J. Taylor for their assistance in the field and with video analysis. R. McBride, L. Barbieri, E. McCoy, C. Koenig and two anonymous reviewers provided guidance that significantly improved this manuscript. We would also like to thank the many volunteer divers and anglers from FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute for their help in the field. This work was performed in part as a portion of Collins’ doctoral dissertation at the University of South Florida. All experimental procedures were performed with the approval of the University of South Florida Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC permits #3210 and #3887).

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  1. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, 100 8th Avenue SE, Saint Petersburg, FL, 33701, USA

    A. B. Collins

  2. Florida Sea Grant, University of Florida IFAS Extension, Manatee County Government, 1303 17th Street West, Palmetto, FL, 34221, USA

    A. B. Collins

  3. Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    A. B. Collins & P. J. Motta

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Collins, A.B., Motta, P.J. A kinematic investigation into the feeding behavior of the Goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara . Environ Biol Fish 100, 309–323 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-016-0543-4

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