Abstract
In defence of their nests or territories, damselfish (Pomacentridae) attack even large and potentially dangerous intruders. The Indo-Pacific region contains many species of sea snakes, some of which eat damselfish whereas others do not. Can the fishes identify which sea snake taxa pose a threat? We recorded responses of damselfishes to natural encounters with five species of snakes in two shallow bays near Noumea, New Caledonia. Attacks by fishes were performed mostly by demersal territorial species of damselfish, and were non-random with respect to the species, size, sex and colouration of the snakes involved. The most common target of attack was Emydocephalus annulatus, a specialist egg-eater that poses no danger to adult fishes. Individuals of a generalist predator (Aipysurus duboisii) that were melanic (and thus resembled E. annulatus in colour) attracted more attacks than did paler individuals. Larger faster-swimming snake species (Aipysurus laevis, Laticauda saintgironsi) were watched but not attacked, or were actively avoided (Hydrophis major), even though only one of these species (A. laevis) eats pomacentrids. Attacks were more common towards female snakes rather than males, likely reflecting slower swimming speeds in females. In summary, damselfishes distinguish between sea snake species using cues such as size, colour and behaviour, but the fishes sometimes make mistakes.
Highlights
In defence of their nests or territories, damselfish (Pomacentridae) attack even large and potentially dangerous intruders
Individuals of many species are under significant risk of predation and experience intense selection to optimize their responses to potential predators[1,2]
One major challenge is to match the response to the magnitude of threat; for example, the best tactic may be to flee if the predator poses a major risk, but to attack if the predator poses little risk to the individual involved but a substantial risk to its offspring[3]
Summary
In defence of their nests or territories, damselfish (Pomacentridae) attack even large and potentially dangerous intruders. Treating all potential predators as dangerous is the safest option, but may entail high costs (e.g., of disrupted feeding, interrupted courtship, less effective parental care) from unnecessarily cautious behaviour[6,7]. In keeping with these ideas, an extensive literature documents sophisticated responses by potential prey to potential predators. Sea snakes encompass a diversity of body shapes and colours, many taxa are grey to brown with transverse darker bars[25,26] Perhaps reflecting their recent origin[27], many “true” (hydrophiine) sea snakes are “notoriously difficult” for most biologists to identify to species[28,29]. Abudefduf sexfasciatus Amblyglyphidodon orbicularis Cheiloprion labiatus Chrysiptera biocellata Dascyllus aruanus Neopomacentrus nemurus Pomacentrus adelus Pomacentrus amboinensis Pomacentrus aurifrons Pomacentrus chrysurus Pomacentrus moluccensis Pomacentrus nagasakiensis Stegastes nigricans Stegastes punctatus
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