Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.
Sci Rep. 2019 Sep 3;9(1):12693. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-49126-9.
Herbivory is an important process in the general structuring of coral reef benthic communities. However, evidence of its ability to control coral reef benthic cyanobacterial mats, which have recently proliferated on reefs worldwide, remains ambivalent. Here, we report that the French Angelfish (Pomacanthus paru), Striped Parrotfish (Scarus iseri), Rock Beauty (Holacanthus tricolor), Ocean Surgeonfish (Acanthurus bahianus), Blue Parrotfish (Scarus coeruleus), and Atlantic Blue Tang (Acanthurus coeruleus) consume benthic cyanobacterial mats on coral reefs in Bonaire, Netherlands. We documented the foraging patterns of P. paru and S. iseri, and found that benthic cyanobacterial mats comprised 36.7% ± 5.8% and 15.0% ± 1.53% (mean ± standard error) of the total bites taken by P. paru and S. iseri respectively. This magnitude of consumption suggests that grazing by reef fishes may represent a potentially important, but previously undocumented, top-down control on benthic cyanobacterial mats on Caribbean reefs.
食草作用是珊瑚礁底栖群落总体结构的一个重要过程。然而，它控制最近在全球珊瑚礁上大量繁殖的珊瑚礁底栖蓝细菌席的能力的证据仍然存在矛盾。在这里，我们报告法国天使鱼（Pomacanthus paru）、条纹鹦嘴鱼（Scarus iseri）、石斑鱼（Holacanthus tricolor）、海洋医生鱼（Acanthurus bahianus）、蓝鹦嘴鱼（Scarus coeruleus）和大西洋蓝刺尾鱼（Acanthurus coeruleus）在博内尔岛（Bonaire）的珊瑚礁上食用底栖蓝细菌席。我们记录了 P. paru 和 S. iseri 的觅食模式，发现底栖蓝细菌席分别占 P. paru 和 S. iseri 总取食量的 36.7%±5.8%和 15.0%±1.53%（平均值±标准误差）。这种消费规模表明，珊瑚礁鱼类的摄食可能代表了对加勒比珊瑚礁底栖蓝细菌席的一种潜在重要的、但以前未被记录的自上而下的控制。
