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Predators and habitat association of post‐settlement snapper (Chrysophrys auratus)

Structured habitats play an important nursery role during the crucial early juvenile or post‐settlement stages of many fish species. Predominantly, the utility of structured habitats to juvenile fish is thought to be associated with the provisioning of food or as a refuge from predation. Although sn...

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Autores principales: Parsons, Darren, Taylor, Rikki, Hughes, Richard, Middleton, Crispin, Gublin, Yann, Levell, Demi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10092373/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36131511
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15222
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author Parsons, Darren
Taylor, Rikki
Hughes, Richard
Middleton, Crispin
Gublin, Yann
Levell, Demi
author_facet Parsons, Darren
Taylor, Rikki
Hughes, Richard
Middleton, Crispin
Gublin, Yann
Levell, Demi
author_sort Parsons, Darren
collection PubMed
description Structured habitats play an important nursery role during the crucial early juvenile or post‐settlement stages of many fish species. Predominantly, the utility of structured habitats to juvenile fish is thought to be associated with the provisioning of food or as a refuge from predation. Although snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) in New Zealand also have a strong affinity for structured habitats during their post‐settlement phase, their predators are unknown as is the role of predation in determining habitat association. Here the authors investigated potential predators of post‐settlement snapper by remotely observing interactions of restrained post‐settlement snapper with potential predators and investigating the diet of potential predators. They also conducted tank experiments with a potential predator, both with and without the presence of structure. Restrained snapper were infrequently approached by predators, but two new nocturnal predators were identified. No snapper were observed in the diet of potential predators, although two piscivores were identified as potential candidates. No predation occurred during tank experiments, but there was a non‐significant indication that under threat of predation post‐settlement snapper may use habitat when it is present and aggregate together when it is not. The findings suggest that the pulsed nature of predation may have made it difficult to observe given the methods employed and that the threat of predation may be sufficient to drive the habitat selection of post‐settlement snapper. Investigating the significance of predation via methods that do not require direct observations may therefore be more appropriate given this context.
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spelling pubmed-100923732023-04-13 Predators and habitat association of post‐settlement snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) Parsons, Darren Taylor, Rikki Hughes, Richard Middleton, Crispin Gublin, Yann Levell, Demi J Fish Biol Regular Papers Structured habitats play an important nursery role during the crucial early juvenile or post‐settlement stages of many fish species. Predominantly, the utility of structured habitats to juvenile fish is thought to be associated with the provisioning of food or as a refuge from predation. Although snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) in New Zealand also have a strong affinity for structured habitats during their post‐settlement phase, their predators are unknown as is the role of predation in determining habitat association. Here the authors investigated potential predators of post‐settlement snapper by remotely observing interactions of restrained post‐settlement snapper with potential predators and investigating the diet of potential predators. They also conducted tank experiments with a potential predator, both with and without the presence of structure. Restrained snapper were infrequently approached by predators, but two new nocturnal predators were identified. No snapper were observed in the diet of potential predators, although two piscivores were identified as potential candidates. No predation occurred during tank experiments, but there was a non‐significant indication that under threat of predation post‐settlement snapper may use habitat when it is present and aggregate together when it is not. The findings suggest that the pulsed nature of predation may have made it difficult to observe given the methods employed and that the threat of predation may be sufficient to drive the habitat selection of post‐settlement snapper. Investigating the significance of predation via methods that do not require direct observations may therefore be more appropriate given this context. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2022-10-13 2022-12 /pmc/articles/PMC10092373/ /pubmed/36131511 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15222 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Fisheries Society of the British Isles. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Regular Papers
Parsons, Darren
Taylor, Rikki
Hughes, Richard
Middleton, Crispin
Gublin, Yann
Levell, Demi
Predators and habitat association of post‐settlement snapper (Chrysophrys auratus)
title Predators and habitat association of post‐settlement snapper (Chrysophrys auratus)
title_full Predators and habitat association of post‐settlement snapper (Chrysophrys auratus)
title_fullStr Predators and habitat association of post‐settlement snapper (Chrysophrys auratus)
title_full_unstemmed Predators and habitat association of post‐settlement snapper (Chrysophrys auratus)
title_short Predators and habitat association of post‐settlement snapper (Chrysophrys auratus)
title_sort predators and habitat association of post‐settlement snapper (chrysophrys auratus)
topic Regular Papers
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10092373/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36131511
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15222
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