MARINE CONSERVATION LAB
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • Fisheries
  • Pismo clams
  • Offshore wind
  • Parrotfish & corals
  • Prospective Students
  • Publications
  • Lab News!

Hannah and Abby published a study on feces consumption by Caribbean reef herbivores!

2/5/2022

0 Comments

 
Parrotfishes and surgeonfishes are abundant tropical fish known to play an important role in grazing on algae that can otherwise overgrow corals–but did you also know that many species also actively consume fish feces? 

Former master's student Hannah Rempel and former undergraduate Abigail Siebert led a study on 'Feces consumption by nominally herbivorous fishes in the Caribbean: an underappreciated source of nutrients?' published in Coral Reefs today. To our knowledge, this is the first study documenting this behavior by these fishes in the Caribbean region. We found that the majority of parrotfish and surgeonfishes consumed fish feces and that they predominantly target the feces of an abundant planktivore, Chromis multilineata. Our findings also suggest that these fecal pellets are an important nutritional resource that are rich in macronutrients like protein and micronutrients like phosphorus compared to other common dietary items, like a fish "Vitamin Sea"! 
0 Comments

    Well, we're a collection of science-minded marine misfits. But we're always up to something...

    Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    October 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • Fisheries
  • Pismo clams
  • Offshore wind
  • Parrotfish & corals
  • Prospective Students
  • Publications
  • Lab News!