Presentation Details
| A Piscivore’s Guide to Its Perceptual Universe: Multimodal Sensory Strategies During Foraging Maya McElfish1, Gabriella Corneille1, Daniella Léon2, Rita Mehta1. 1University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA.2University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA |
Abstract
Rocky reefs off Santa Catalina Island support high fish diversity, with species differing in diet and foraging tactics. Yet sensory mechanisms underlying foraging success remain poorly understood. Our goal was to test how visual, olfactory, and gustatory systems are used during discrete stages of the foraging sequence for two piscivores, the California moray eel (Gymnothorax mordax) and kelp bass (Paralabrax clathratus). By deploying underwater cameras attached to an experimental apparatus in the field, we were able to test these stimuli both in isolation and combination under natural conditions. Despite dietary overlap, we found differences in the stimuli that facilitate foraging success. Morays were chemically dependent, relying on odor to detect and locate prey, and taste to initiate prey apprehension, whereas kelp bass used a combination of visual and odor cues to complete stages of predation. This project helps provide a mechanistic framework to study predator-prey dynamics.
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