Small fish hides behind other bigger fish to sneak up on its prey
A monthly celebration of the biodiversity of our planet’s animals, plants and other organisms.First, they pulled a model of a trumpetfish over damselfish, finding that the latter quickly fled. They then dragged a model of a parrotfish over damselfish, finding that they continued their activity as normal. But when both trumpetfish and parrotfish were pulled over
together, mimicking how trumpetfish swim closely to parrotfish, the damselfish fled, suggesting that they are familiar with this tactic. The series of experiments was repeated on 36 damselfish colonies at three locations around the island. This strongly suggests that trumpetfish shadow other types of fish to get nearer to their prey, says Matchette. “This is the first non-human example of an animal using another animal as camouflage to get close to or to conceal themselves from their prey,” he says. For example, human hunters commonly approach birds such as ducks by crouching behind horses – this is where the term “stalking horses” comes from.
Rising sea temperatures could affect the coral reef habitats that some fish live in. “They are going to end up patchier, less complex and less biodiverse,” says Matchette. Fish species that rely on reefs for concealment from their prey may have to start mimicking trumpetfish’s behaviour, which is important for scientists to understand as thesechange.
“This is an excellent example of where a fascinating piece of observational natural history is turned into hard science by focused experimentation,” says
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