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Reef fishes foraging facilitation behavior: increasing the access to a food resource

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Abstract

Fishes associated in schools acquire adaptive advantages by grouping together, e.g., access to a larger variety of food resources, foraging sites, and protection against potential predators. This work presents the first record of a feeding association between the bucktooth parrotfish, Sparisoma radians and the sailor’s grunt Haemulon parra, on Tamandaré reefs, Southwestern Atlantic. Through this association, S. radians gained access to otherwise unavailable food resources to be found inside territorial damselfish domain, thus characterizing an event of foraging facilitation.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank CNPq and CAPES for financial support of this study and Laís Chaves for reviewing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University–JCU, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    Pedro H. C. Pereira

  2. Departamento de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Av. Arquitetura, s/n, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50670-901, Brazil

    João L. L. Feitosa & Beatrice P. Ferreira

  3. Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB) Campus IV, Centro de Ciências Aplicadas e Educação, R. da Mangueira, s/n° Centro, Rio Tinto, PB, 58297-000, Brazil

    Diego V. Medeiros

Authors
  1. Pedro H. C. Pereira
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  2. João L. L. Feitosa
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  3. Diego V. Medeiros
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  4. Beatrice P. Ferreira
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Correspondence to Pedro H. C. Pereira.

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Pereira, P.H.C., Feitosa, J.L.L., Medeiros, D.V. et al. Reef fishes foraging facilitation behavior: increasing the access to a food resource. acta ethol 16, 53–56 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-012-0130-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-012-0130-4

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