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Larval sensory abilities and mechanisms of habitat selection of a coral reef fish during settlement

  • Behavioural Ecology
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Abstract

Sensory abilities and preferences exhibited by mobile larvae during their transition to juvenile habitats can establish spatial heterogeneity that drives subsequent species interactions and dynamics of populations. We conducted a series of laboratory and field experiments using coral reef fish larvae (Chromis viridis) to determine: ecological determinants of settlement choice (conspecifics vs. heterospecifics vs. coral substrates); sensory mechanisms (visual, acoustic/vibratory, olfactory) underlying settlement choice; and sensory abilities (effective detection distances of habitat) under field conditions. C. viridis larvae responded positively to visual, acoustic/vibratory, and olfactory cues expressed by conspecifics. Overall, larvae chose compartments of experimental arenas containing conspecifics in 75% of trials, and failed to show any significant directional responses to heterospecifics or coral substrates. In field trials, C. viridis larvae detected reefs containing conspecifics using visual and/or acoustic/vibratory cues at distances <75 cm; detection distances increased to <375 cm when olfactory capacity was present (particularly for reefs located up-current). We conducted high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses of seawater containing C. viridis juveniles and isolated high concentrations of several organic compounds. Subsequent laboratory trials demonstrated that C. viridis larvae responded positively to only one of these organic compounds. This compound was characterized by a weak polarity and was detected at 230 nm with a 31-min retention time in HPLC. Overall, our results suggest that fishes may use a range of sensory mechanisms effective over different spatial scales to detect and choose settlement sites, and species-specific cues may play a vital role in establishment of spatial patterns at settlement.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank N. Phillips, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments improving the quality of this manuscript, and J. Algret and Y. Chancerelle for their assistance in the field. This research was supported by the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, and a Lavoisier Fellowship (French Ministry to Foreign Affairs) awarded to D. Lecchini. Additional logistic and financial supports were provided by the Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement (CRIOBE), the Gump Research Station, and an NSF grant (OCE-0242312) and a New Zealand ISAT Linkage Grant supporting the involvement of the J. Shima. This work is a joint contribution from the CRIOBE and Gump Research Stations, both located on Moorea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Université de Perpignan, UMR-CNRS 8046, Perpignan, France

    David Lecchini & René Galzin

  2. CRIOBE, Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement, Moorea Polynésie, France

    David Lecchini & René Galzin

  3. School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Jeffrey Shima

  4. Laboratoire de Chimie des Biomolécules et de l’Environnement, Université de Perpignan, Perpignan, France

    Bernard Banaigs

  5. Laboratory of Ecology and Systematics, University of the Ryukyus, 1 Senbaru, 903-0213, Japan

    David Lecchini

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  1. David Lecchini
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  2. Jeffrey Shima
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  3. Bernard Banaigs
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  4. René Galzin
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Correspondence to David Lecchini.

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Lecchini, D., Shima, J., Banaigs, B. et al. Larval sensory abilities and mechanisms of habitat selection of a coral reef fish during settlement. Oecologia 143, 326–334 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1805-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1805-y

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