Biology Faculty Articles
Title
Diel vertical movements of a coastal predator, the roosterfish (Nematistius pectoralis)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-4-2021
Publication Title
Marine & Freshwater Research
Keywords
accelerometry, archival tag, behavioural plasticity, dive behaviour, pelagic predator
ISSN
1323-1650
Volume
73
Issue/No.
1
First Page
125
Last Page
132
Abstract
The roosterfish (Nematistius pectoralis) is a piscivorous predator targeted extensively in recreational fisheries throughout the eastern tropical Pacific; however, its biology is poorly understood. To address these shortcomings, we investigated vertical habitat use and behaviour of roosterfish in coastal Panama using pop-up satellite archival tags. Nearly 5000 h of vertical movement data across 274 days from five fish showed that roosterfish largely used the upper 10 m and 20 m of the water column during the night-time and daytime respectively, and rarely left the mixed layer. Roosterfish diving behaviour showed a clear diurnal pattern, with oscillatory dives beginning during dawn and continuing through dusk. Accelerometer data showed that this period was also associated with a sharp increase in activity during dawn and a decrease around sunset. Whereas previous work in shallow systems (<20 m) with limited structure showed that roosterfish were vertically active sporadically throughout the day and mostly during crepuscular periods, our study showed that in a habitat with continuous structure, roosterfish were continuously vertically active from dawn till dusk, possibly because foraging behaviours were limited by light levels rather than prey-congregating structure. Such changes in dive patterns illustrate how habitat influences behaviour and the importance of studying organisms throughout their range.
NSUWorks Citation
Vaudo, Jeremy; Ryan K. Logan; Bradley Wetherbee; Jessica C. Harvey; Guy C. McN. Harvey; and Mahmood Shivji. 2021. "Diel vertical movements of a coastal predator, the roosterfish (Nematistius pectoralis)." Marine & Freshwater Research 73, (1): 125-132. doi:10.1071/MF21066.
ORCID ID
0000-0002-6826-3822
ResearcherID
G-4080-2013
DOI
10.1071/MF21066
Comments
This study was supported by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, Tropic Star Lodge, and Nova Southeastern University. Animal capture, handling and tagging was approved by Nova Southeastern University’s IACUC (2017.11.MS1).