Species recognition in the blackbordered damselfish Dascyllus marginatus (Rüppell): An evaluation of computer-animated playback techniques

Nadav Shashar, Gil G. Rosenthal, Tamir Caras, Shiri Manor, Gadi Katzir

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Blackbordered damselfish, Dascyllus marginatus, were presented with computer animations of varying backgrounds, with and without moving stimuli of conspecifics and sympatric heterospecifics. When subjects were released into the test tank their initial escape response was nearly always towards a fish stimulus, independent of species identity, rather than towards a background stimulus, even when the former where presented in the open and the latter displayed a coral shelter. Subjects did, however, show distinct preferences according to species with regards to the total time spent with each animation. D. marginatus significantly preferred conspecifics over Dascyllus trimaculatus, but did not prefer conspecifics over Dascyllus aruanus, a species with which they frequently shoal in nature. These results demonstrate that computer animations can be used in ethological studies of coral reef fishes and to isolate critical visual signals. Results also show that reef fishes can use visual signals to make sophisticated discriminations among species that can be modulated according to the task at hand.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)111-118
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
Volume318
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 4 May 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Animation
  • Body patterns
  • Coral reefs
  • Eilat
  • Red Sea
  • Vision

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Aquatic Science

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