Behaviour and ecology of a population of Abudefduf saxatilis (Pomacentridae, Teleostei) at Eilat (Red Sea)
TL;DR: Investigations on a population of the Sergant Major, Abudefduf saxatilis (Pomacentridae), performed along the coral reef of Eilat, Gulf of Aqaba, placed emphasis on the schooling behaviour and reproduction, especially on the analysis of the male's action inventory, their frequencies and signicance.
About: This article is published in Animal Behaviour.The article was published on 1970-05-01. It has received 76 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Abudefduf saxatilis & Pomacentridae.
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TL;DR: It is concluded that temperate zone models of reproductive strategy are inapplicable to many fishes of the coastal tropics and offshore larval dispersal does not seem to be an adaptation for dispersal of the species, but rather an evolutionary response to intense predation pressure in the adult habitats.
Abstract: A synthesis of ethnobiological, behavioral and physical oceanographic information leads to the conclusion that temperate zone models of reproductive strategy are inapplicable to many fishes of the coastal tropics. Intense predation appears to exert heavy selection pressure on fishes that spend their adult lives in coral, mangrove or tropical seagrass communities. Many exhibit spawning behaviors and spawn at times and locations that favor the transport of their pelagic eggs and pelagic larvae offshore where predation is reduced. This creates a countervailing selection pressure — the need to return the larvae to shallow water once they are ready to colonize their post-larval habitats. Accordingly, spawning is often concentrated at times of the year when prevailing winds or currents are at their weakest, thereby reducing the transport of larvae long distances from where they originated. Spawning is also concentrated in the vicinity of nearshore gyres which similarly favor the ultimate return of the larvae to their natal area. Among these species, therefore, offshore larval dispersal does not seem to be an adaptation for dispersal of the species, but rather an evolutionary response to intense predation pressure in the adult habitats. Lunar reproductive periodicity is more common among these species than has previously been recognized, and is one of the strategies employed to enhance the offshore flushing of eggs and larvae.
762 citations
TL;DR: The argument is developed that reef fishes are adapted to this unpredictable supply of space in ways which make interspecific competition for space a lottery in which no species can consistently win.
Abstract: Data have been drawn together to demonstrate that reef fishes by and large are food and habitat generalists with a large amount of overlap in requirements among coexisting species. Suitable living space is the resource most likely to be in short supply for them, and their environment, although benign, is one in which the supply of living space is both spatially and temporally unpredictable. The argument is developed that reef fishes are adapted to this unpredictable supply of space in ways which make interspecific competition for space a lottery in which no species can consistently win. Thus, the high diversity of reef fish communities may be maintained because the unpredictable environment prevents development of an equilibrium community
662 citations
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01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: This chapter discusses anti-Predator Behaviour, which involves selection and Preparation of Spawning Site, and how that affects the likelihood of detection by Predators.
Abstract: 1 Locomotion.- 1.1 Propulsion.- 1.1.1 Use of Body and/or Caudal Fin.- 1.1.2 Use of Extended Median or Pectoral Fins.- 1.1.3 Use of Shortened Median or Pectoral Fins.- 1.2 Manoeuvering and Stabilizing.- 1.3 Drag-Reducing Mechanisms.- 1.3.1 Schooling Behaviour.- 1.3.2 Mucous Production.- 1.4 Locomotion in Air.- 1.5 Locomotion on Land.- 2 Feeding Behaviour.- 2.1 Detritivores.- 2.2 Scavengers.- 2.3 Herbivores.- 2.3.1 Grazers.- 2.3.2 Browsers.- 2.3.3 Phytoplanktivores.- 2.4 Carnivores.- 2.4.1 Benthivores.- 2.4.1.1 Picking at Relatively Small Prey.- 2.4.1.2 Disturbing, then Picking at Prey.- 2.4.1.3 Picking up Substrate and Sorting Prey.- 2.4.1.4 Grasping Relatively Large Prey.- 2.4.2 Zooplanktivores.- 2.4.2.1 Prey Selection.- 2.4.3 Aerial Feeders.- 2.4.4 Piscivores.- 2.4.4.1 Ambush Hunting.- 2.4.4.2 Luring.- 2.4.4.3 Stalking.- 2.4.4.4 Chasing.- 2.4.4.5 Parasites.- 2.5 Group Feeding.- 2.5.1 Planktivores.- 2.5.2 Piscivores.- 2.5.3 Benthivores.- 2.6 General Comments on Feeding Behaviour.- 3 Anti-Predator Behaviour.- 3.1 Primary Anti-Predator Mechanisms.- 3.1.1 Hiding.- 3.1.2 Camouflage.- 3.1.2.1 Countershading.- 3.1.2.2 Resemblance to Surroundings.- 3.2 Secondary Anti-Predator Mechanisms.- 3.2.1 Flight into Shelter.- 3.2.2 Individual Evasive Action.- 3.2.3 Group Action.- 3.2.3.1 Reduced Probability of Detection by Predators.- 3.2.3.2 Increased Probability of Detecting Predators.- 3.2.3.3 "Alarm Reaction".- 3.2.3.4 Schooling as Shelter-Seeking.- 3.2.3.5 Inhibition of Attack.- 3.2.3.6 "Confusion Effect".- 3.2.4 Aggressive Defence.- 3.3 General Comments on Anti-Predator Behaviour.- 4 Selection and Preparation of Spawning Site.- 4.1 Spawning Surface Cleaned.- 4.2 Spawning Site Excavated.- 4.2.1 Eggs Buried.- 4.2.1.1 Petromyzontidae.- 4.2.1.2 Salmonidae.- 4.2.1.3 Cyprinidae.- 4.2.2 Eggs Exposed.- 4.2.2.1 Centrarchidae.- 4.2.2.2 Cichlidae.- 4.2.3 Eggs Sheltered.- 4.2.4 Eggs Carried Away.- 4.3 Nest Built of Collected Materials.- 4.3.1 Belontiidae.- 4.3.2 Gasterosteidae.- 5 Breeding Behaviour.- 5.1 Functions of Courtship Behaviour.- 5.1.1 Attraction and Identification.- 5.1.2 Arousal, Appeasement, and Synchrony.- 5.1.3 Long-Term Effects.- 5.2 Mating with External Fertilization.- 5.2.1 Species with Pelagic Eggs.- 5.2.2 Species with Demersal Eggs, no Prolonged Guarding.- 5.2.2.1 Eggs Released onto Substrate.- 5.2.2.2 Eggs Buried in Substrate.- 5.2.2.3 Eggs Placed Inside Shelters.- 5.2.3 Species with Demersal Eggs and Prolonged Guarding.- 5.2.3.1 Eggs Released onto Substrate.- 5.2.3.2 Eggs Placed in Enclosed Shelter.- 5.2.3.3 Eggs Placed in Constructed Nest.- 5.2.4 Species that Carry Their Eggs.- 5.3 Mating with Internal Fertilization.- 6 Parental Behaviour.- 6.1 Care and Protection of Eggs.- 6.1.1 Eggs at One Location.- 6.1.2 Eggs Carried by One or Both Parents.- 6.1.2.1 Methods of Carrying Eggs.- 6.1.2.2 Quantitative Aspects of Oral Egg-Brooding.- 6.2 Care of Post-Hatch Young.- 6.2.1 Short-Term Care of Young.- 6.2.2 Long-Term Care of Young.- 6.2.2.1 Responses of Cichlid Fry to Parental Cues.- 6.2.2.2 Direct Contact of Parents by Fry.- 6.2.2.3 Responses of Cichlid Parents to Progeny Cues.- 6.2.2.4 Communal Care of Young.- 6.3 Male-Female Roles in Parental Behaviour..- 6.4 Evolution of Parental Behaviour.- 6.4.1 Evolution of Oral Brooding of Young.- 6.4.2 Evolution of Male-Female Parental Roles.- 7 Social Organization.- 7.1 Single Fishes.- 7.1.1 Solitary Fishes.- 7.1.1.1 Chaetodontidae.- 7.1.1.2 Esocidae.- 7.1.1.3 Miscellaneous.- 7.1.2 Territorial Mosaics.- 7.1.2.1 Blenniidae.- 7.1.2.2 Pomacentridae.- 7.1.2.3 Salmonidae.- 7.2 Male-Female Pairs.- 7.3 Small Groups.- 7.3.1 Anemonefishes (Pomacentridae).- 7.3.2 Dascyllus (Pomacentridae).- 7.4 Schools.- 7.4.1 Behaviour of Fish in Schools.- 7.4.1.1 Relatively Stationary Schools.- 7.4.1.2 Relatively Mobile Schools.- 7.5 Evolution of Social Systems.- References.- Systematic Index.
339 citations
Additional excerpts
..., 1967; Albrecht, 1969), Abudefduf saxatilis (Albrecht, 1969; Fishelson, 1970), and...
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TL;DR: It is argued that reef fishes are preadapted for forming inter-specific lotteries for living space if several species with similar requirements occur together, and may explain the typically high within-site diversity found in them.
Abstract: Data are summarised from studies of two reef fish communities — pomacentrids territorial on rubble patches, and fishes resident in small isolated colonies of coral. In each case there is evidence that availability of living sites limits numbers of fishes, and that similar species of fish use the same kinds of spaces. Priority of arrival as recruits, rather than subtle differences in requirements or competitive abilities of adults, appears to determine which species holds each site. Faced with a limited and patchy supply of living space, most reef fishes are sedentary as adults, and produce frequent clutches of pelagic larvae over extended breeding seasons In this way they maximise their chances of getting offspring into suitable living sites as such sites appear. It is argued that by adopting this strategy, reef fishes are preadapted for forming inter-specific lotteries for living space if several species with similar requirements occur together. Such lotteries among similar species may be a feature common to many reef fish communities, and may explain the typically high within-site diversity found in them.
322 citations
TL;DR: The results of a survey of all families whose species exhibit parental care are presented, suggesting that the effects of care-giving on the future reproduction of the male and the male's provability of genetic relatedness to his mate's offspring are major factors in the evolution and maintanance of male parental behavior.
Abstract: The phenomenon of male parental care, which is unusually common in bony fishes, has been the subject of numerous evolutionary hypotheses in recent years. In an effort to evaluate these hypotheses the results of a survey of all families whose species exhibit parental care is presented. Sexual selection and female choice for male parental behavior only partially explain this phenomenon. Although females may benefit by males being the care-giving individuals, these benefits may apply equally to males when females are the care-givers. The information avaliable suggests that the effects of care-giving on the future reproduction of the male and the male's provability of genetic relatedness to his mate's offspring are major factors in the evolution and maintanance of male parental behavior. The costs of care-giving are minimized by mating strategies thath enagle males to give parental care and pursue further mating simulteneously. Male fishes with external fertilization often attain a relatively high probability...
276 citations
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1,400 citations
987 citations
TL;DR: FOOD and FEEDING HABITS by TAXONOMIC CATEGORIES ..... 71 Carcharhinidae ........ 71 Triakidae 71 Orectolobidae ......... 71 Mobulidae 71 Dussumieridae ...... 71 Clupeidae 72 Ophichthidae ........ 72 Muraenidae ....…. 72 Congridae 74 Moringuidae ......... 74 Synodontidae ....... 74 Belonidae 74 Hemiramphidae ........
Abstract: FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS BY TAXONOMIC CATEGORIES ..... 71 Carcharhinidae ........ 71 Triakidae 71 Orectolobidae ......... 71 Mobulidae 71 Dussumieridae ........ 71 Clupeidae 72 Ophichthidae ......... 72 Muraenidae ......... 72 Congridae 74 Moringuidae ......... 74 Synodontidae ......... 74 Belonidae 74 Hemiramphidae ........ 75 Bothidae 75 Holocentridae ........ 75 Syngnathidae ......... 77 Aulostoinidae ......... 77 Fistulariidae ......... 77 Atherinidae ......... 77 Mugilidae 78 Sphyraenidae ......... 78 Polynemidae ......... 78 Scombridae 78 Carangidae 79 Apogoiiidae ......... 80 Priacanthidae .... 81 Serranidae 82 Pseudochroinidae ....... 83 Pempheridae ......... 84 Lutj anidae 84 Leiognathidae 86 Sparidae 86 Mullidae 87 Cirrhitidae 88 Siganidae 88 Kyphosidae ...... ...... 89 Chaetodontidae 89 PAGE
712 citations
TL;DR: I think it probable that some of the dove's instincts include an element which is even a tropism as described by Loeb, but with few if any exceptions among the instincts of doves, this reflex action constitufes only a part of each instinct in which it is present.
Abstract: The overt behavior of adult animals occurs largely in rather definite chains and cycles, and it has been held that these are merely chain reflexes. Many years of study of the behavior of animals-studies especially of the blond ring-dove (Turtur risorius) and other pigeons-have convinced me that instinctive behavior does not consist of mere chain reflexes; it involves other factors which it is the purpose of this article to describe. I do not deny that innate chain reflexes constitute a considerable part of the instinctive equipment of doves. Indeed, I think it probable that some of the dove's instincts include an element which is even a tropism as described by Loeb. But with few if any exceptions among the instincts of doves, this reflex action constitufes only a part of each instinct in which it is present. E1ach instinct involves an element of appetite, or aversion, or both. An appetite (or appetence, if this term may be used with purely behavioristic meaning), so far as externally observable, is a state of agitation which continues so long as a certain stimulus, which may be called the appeted stimulus, is absent. When the appeted stimulus is at length received it stimulates a consummatory reaction, after which the appetitive behavior ceases and is succeeced by a state of relative rest. An aversion (example 7, p. Ioo) is a state of agitation which continues so long as a certain stimulus, referred to as the disturbing stimulus, is present; but which ceases, being replaced by a state of relative rest, when that stimulus has ceased to act on the sense-organs. The state of agitation, in either appetite or aversion, is exhibited externally by increased muscular tension; by static and
705 citations
377 citations