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Full-Text Articles in Aquaculture and Fisheries
Corallivorous Reef Fishes As Potential Vectors Of Coral Disease Based On A Study Of Dietary Preferences, Tanya Rogers
Corallivorous Reef Fishes As Potential Vectors Of Coral Disease Based On A Study Of Dietary Preferences, Tanya Rogers
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
The prevalence of coral disease appears to be increasing worldwide, although little is known about how these diseases are transmitted between coral colonies. To examine whether corallivorous fishes could potentially act as disease vectors, this study examined whether and which fish species feed on diseased coral, and whether these fishes actively target diseased coral sections. Branches of Acropora muricata with brown band disease were filmed in the field, and bites taken by fishes on different sections of the coral (live tissue, tissue margin, disease band, dead skeleton, and algae) were recorded. For each fish species, electivity indices were calculated for …
Prey Selectivity Of Planktivorous Fish: Analysis Of Stomach Contents In Four Pomacentrids At Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, James O'Hare
Prey Selectivity Of Planktivorous Fish: Analysis Of Stomach Contents In Four Pomacentrids At Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, James O'Hare
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Coral reef planktivores are important to coral reefs by concentrating and delivering nutrients and allochthonous carbon from the plankton to reef building corals. In an otherwise very oligotrophic system this function may be of major importance. Planktivorous Damselfish (Pomicentridae) were analysed for prey selectivity through enumeration of stomach contents. Simultaneous plankton tows were conducted to establish the plankton community composition of the waters they were taken from. There was a statistically significant variation between the stomach composition and that of the water column. While there was not a significant difference among Simpson’s diversity indices of the stomach contents, there was …