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The effects of intraspecific competition on the prey capture behavior and kinematics of the bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus

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Abstract

Competition has broad effects on fish and specifically the effects of competition on the prey capture kinematics and behavior are important for the assessment of future prey capture studies in bony fishes. Prey capture kinematics and behavior in bony fishes have been shown to be affected by temperature and satiation. The densities at which bony fish are kept have also been shown to affect their growth, behavior, prey selection, feeding and physiology. We investigated how density induced intraspecific competition for food affects the prey capture kinematics of juvenile bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus. High speed video was utilized to film five bold individuals feeding at three different densities representing different levels of intraspecific competition. We hypothesized that: (1) the feeding kinematics will be faster at higher levels of competition compared to lower levels of competition, and (2) bluegill should shift from more suction-based feeding towards more ram-based feeding with increasing levels of competition in order to outcompete conspecifics for a prey item. We found that, with increased intraspecific competition, prey capture became faster, involving more rapid jaw opening and therefore greater inertial suction, shorter mouth closing times, and shorter gape cycles. Furthermore, the attack velocity of the fish increased with increasing competition, however a shift towards primarily ram based feeding was not confirmed. Our study demonstrates that prey capture kinematics are affected by the presence of conspecifics and future studies need to consider the effects of competition on prey capture kinematics.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Porter Family Foundation and the University of South Florida Office of Undergraduate Research for funding this research as well as Timothy Higham for offering comments on this manuscript. We also would like to thank Ralph Turingan for his help with the experimental setup, Richard Tankersley for his help with the statistical analysis as well as Kyle Mara, Maria Laura Habegger, Lisa Whitenack, Samantha Mulvany and Tanya Brunner with their help throughout this study.

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  1. Janne A. Pfeiffenberger

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W University Boulevard, Melbourne, FL, 32901, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Janne A. Pfeiffenberger & Philip J. Motta

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  1. Janne A. Pfeiffenberger
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  2. Philip J. Motta
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Correspondence to Janne A. Pfeiffenberger.

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Pfeiffenberger, J.A., Motta, P.J. The effects of intraspecific competition on the prey capture behavior and kinematics of the bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus . Environ Biol Fish 93, 13–21 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-011-9885-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-011-9885-0

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