Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Resource use by five sympatric parrotfishes in the San Blas Archipelago, Panama

  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Resource use by five sympatric species of parrotfish was quantified in the San Blas Archipelago of the Republic of Panama from March to August 1987. Detailed observations of parrotfishes on patch reefs and surrounding seagrass beds showed that they partition resources with respect to habitat, food and size, but not time. Although parrotfishes shared resources, the proportions of each resource used differed significantly among species. Scarus iserti (Bloch) scraped filamentous microalgae that grew from eroded coral pavement on lower slopes of patch reefs and in “halos,” the area of sparse vegetation surrounding reefs. Sparisoma viride (Bonnaterre) foraged on upper slopes of patch reefs where they mostly took bites from dead coral and associated algae. S. aurofrenatum (Cuvier and Valenciennes) had the broadest diet, which consisted mostly of seagrasses and macro- and microalgae that were attached to dead coral on lower reef slopes and in halos. Although S. chrysopterum (Bloch and Schneider) commonly occurred on patch reefs, it primarily foraged in seagrass beds that surround them. S. rubripinne (Cuvier and Valenciennes) was distributed most widely, ranging from seagrass beds to reef crests, where it took bites from seagrasses, dead coral and macroalgae. Juveniles of all species occurred on lower slopes or in halos where they scraped filamentous microalgae from coral pavement. As they matured, parrotfishes moved into other habitats changing access to different types of food. All of these parrotfishes fed throughout the daytime, and resource use did not differ between morning and afternoon.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alley TR (1982) Competition theory, evolution and the concept of ecological niche. Acta biotheor 31: 165–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Barlow GW (1975) On the sociobiology of four Puerto Rican parrotfishes (Scaridae). Mar Biol 33: 281–293

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellwood DR (1988) Ontogenetic changes in the diet of early postsettlement Scarus species (Pisces: Scaridae). J Fish Biol 33: 213–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellwood DR, Choat JH (1990) A functional analysis of grazing in parrotfishes (family Scaridae): the ecological implications. Envir Biol Fish 28: 189–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Branch GM (1984) Competition between marine organisms: ecological and evolutionary implications. Oceanogr mar Biol A Rev 22: 429–593

    Google Scholar 

  • Brock RE (1954) A method of estimating reef fish populations. J Wildl Mgmt 18: 297–308

    Google Scholar 

  • Brock RE (1982) A critique of the visual census method for assessing coral reef fish populations. Bull mar Sci 32: 269–276

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruggemann JH, van Oppen MJH, Breeman AM (1994) Foraging by the stoplight parrotfish Sparisoma viride. I. Food selection in different, socially determined habitats. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 106: 41–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter RC (1986) Partitioning herbivory and its effects on coral reef algal communities. Ecol Monogr 56: 345–363

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter RC (1988) Mass mortality of a Caribbean sea urchin: immediate effects on community metabolism and other herbivores. Proc natn Acad Sci USA 85: 511–514

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter RC (1990) Mass mortality of Diadema antillarum. II. Effects on population densities and grazing intensity of parrotfishes and surgeonfishes. Mar Biol 104: 79–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Choat JH (1969) Studies on the biology of labroid fishes (Labridae and Scaridae) at Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. PhD dissertation, University of Queensland, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Choat JH (1991) The biology of herbivorous fishes on coral reefs. In: Sale PF (ed) The ecology of fishes on coral reefs. Academic Press, New York, pp 120–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Choat JH, Robertson DR (1975) Protogynous hermaphroditism in fishes of the family Scaridae. In: Reinboth R (ed) Intersexuality in the animal kingdom. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke RD (1977) Habitat distribution and species diversity of chaetodontid and pomacentrid fishes near Bimini, Bahamas. Mar Biol 40: 277–289

    Google Scholar 

  • Colin PL (1978) Daily and summer/winter variation in mass spawning of the striped parrotfish Scarus croicensus. Fish Bull US 76: 117–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1980) Diversity and coevolution of competitors, or the ghost of competition past. Oikos 35: 131–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1983) On the prevalence and relative importance of interspecific competition: evidence from field experiments. Am Nat 122: 661–696

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebeling AW, Hixon MA (1991) Tropical and temperate reef fishes: comparison of community structures. In: Sale PF (ed) The ecology of fishes on coral reefs. Academic Press, New York, pp 509–563

    Google Scholar 

  • Frydl P, Stearn CW (1978) Rate of bioerosion by parrotfish in Barbados reef environments. J sedim Petrol 48: 1149–1158

    Google Scholar 

  • Hay ME (1991) Fish-seaweed interactions on coral reefs: effects of herbivorous fishes and adaptations of their prey. In: Sale PF (ed) The ecology of fishes on coral reefs. Academic Press, New York, pp 96–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Hay ME, Taylor PR (1985) Competition between herbivorous fishes and urchins on Caribbean reefs. Oecologia 65: 591–598

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiatt RW, Strasburg DW (1960) Ecological relationships of the fish fauna on coral reefs of the Marshall Islands. Ecol Monogr 30: 65–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Johannes RE (1981) Words of the lagoon: fishing and marine lore in the Palau District of Micronesia. University of California, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Lessios HA (1988a) Mass mortality of Diadema antillarum in the Caribbean: what have we learned? A Rev Ecol Syst 19: 371–393

    Google Scholar 

  • Lessios HA (1988b) Population dynamics of Diadema antillarum (Echinodermata: Echinoidea) following mass mortality in Panama. Mar Biol 99: 515–526

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis SM, Wainwright PC (1985) Herbivore abundance and grazing intensity on a Caribbean coral reef. J exp mar Biol Ecol 87: 215–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Littler MM, Littler DS (1984) Relationships between macroalgal functional form groups and substrata stability in a subtropical rocky intertidal system. J exp mar Biol Ecol 74: 13–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Littler MM, Taylor PR, Littler DS (1989) Complex interactions in the control of coral zonation on a Caribbean reef flat. Oecologia 80: 331–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Lobel PS, Ogden JC (1981) Foraging by the herbivorous parrotfish Sparisoma radians. Mar Biol 64: 173–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison D (1988) Comparing fish and urchin grazing in shallow and deeper coral reef algal communities. Ecology 69: 1367–1382

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogden JC, Brown RA, Salesky N (1973) Grazing by the echinoid Diadema antillarum philippi: formation of halos around West Indian patch reefs. Science, NY 182: 715–717

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogden JC, Buckman DS (1973) Movements, foraging groups, and diurnal migration of the striped parrotfish, Scarus croicensus Block (Scaridae). Ecology 54: 589–596

    Google Scholar 

  • Polunin NVC, Klumpp DW (1989) Ecological correlates of foraging periodicity in herbivorous reef fishes of the Coral Sea. J exp mar Biol Ecol 126: 1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Randall JE (1965) Grazing effects on seagrasses by herbivorous reef fishes in the West Indies. Ecology 46: 255–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Randall JE (1968) Caribbean reef fishes. TFH, Hong Kong

    Google Scholar 

  • Robblee MB, Zieman JC (1984) Diel variation in the fish fauna of a tropical seagrass feeding ground. Bull mar Sci 34: 335–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson DR (1987) Responses of two coral reef toadfishes (Batrachoididae) to the demise of their primary prey, the sea urchin Diadema antillarum. Copeia 1987: 637–642

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson DR (1991) Increases in surgeonfish populations after mass mortality of the sea urchin Diadema antillarum in Panama indicate food limitation. Mar Biol 111: 437–444

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson DR, Warner RR (1978) Sexual patterns of the labroid fishes in the western Caribbean. II. The parrotfishes (Scaridae). Smithson Contr Zool 255: 1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden J (1974) Species packing and the competition function with illustrations from coral reef fish. Theor Popul Biol 5: 163–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross ST (1986) Resource partitioning in fish assemblages: a review of field studies. Copeia 1986: 352–388

    Google Scholar 

  • Russ GR (1984) Distribution and abundance of herbivorous grazing fishes in the central Great Barrier Reef. II. Patterns of zonation of mid-shelf and outershelf reefs. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 20: 35–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Sale PF (1977) Maintenance of high diversity in coral reef fish communities. Am Nat 111: 337–359

    Google Scholar 

  • Sale PF (1980) The ecology of fishes on coral reefs. Oceanogr mar Biol A Rev 18: 367–421

    Google Scholar 

  • Sale PF (1991) Reef fish communities: open nonequilibrial systems. In: Sale PF (ed) The ecology of fishes on coral reefs, Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sale PF, Dybdahl R (1975) Determinants of community structure for coral reef fishes in an experimental habitat. Ecology 56: 1343–1355

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1974) Resource partitioning in ecological communities. Science, NY 185: 27–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener TW (1982) The controversy over interspecific competition. Am Scient 70: 586–595

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1995) Biometry. WH Freeman, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Talbot FH, Russell BC, Anderson GRV (1978) Coral reef fish communities: unstable, high-diversity systems? Ecol Monogr 48: 425–440

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein MP, Heck KL Jr (1979) Ichthyofauna of seagrass meadows along the Caribbean coast of Panama and in the Gulf of Mexico: composition, structure and community ecology. Mar Biol 50: 97–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiens JA (1977) On competition and variable environments. Am Scient 65: 590–597

    Google Scholar 

  • Winn HE, Bardach JE (1959) Differential food selection by moray eels and a possible role of the mucous envelope of parrotfishes in reduction of predation. Ecology 40: 296–298

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. S. T. McAfee

    Present address: Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York, 11795-5000, Stony Brook, New York, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, P.O. Box 450, 95039, Moss Landing, California, USA

    S. T. McAfee

  2. Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York, 11795-5000, Stony Brook, New York, USA

    S. G. Morgan

Authors
  1. S. T. McAfee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. G. Morgan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Communicated by J.P. Grassle, New Brunswick

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McAfee, S.T., Morgan, S.G. Resource use by five sympatric parrotfishes in the San Blas Archipelago, Panama. Marine Biology 125, 427–437 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00353255

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00353255

Keywords

Search

Navigation