Wolves in sheep’s clothing: three new cases of aggressive mimicry in Red Sea coral reef fishes
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Reef Ecology Lab
KAUST Grant Number
CRG-1-2012-BER-002Date
2020-09-30Online Publication Date
2020-09-30Print Publication Date
2020-04-17Embargo End Date
2021-09-30Submitted Date
2020-05-06Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/665398
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Here we document three cases of mimicry in coral reef fishes not previously reported in the literature involving two groupers (Epinephelus leucogrammicus and Plectropomus marisrubri) and a soapfish (Diploprion drachi) as mimics, and two wrasses (Larabicus quadrilineatus and Cheilinus quinquecinctus) and a blenny (Meiacanthus nigrolineatus) as models. All three cases are of aggressive mimicry, with a predatory species mimicking a harmless one, and in one of the cases, the mimicry is also Müllerian, where both the predator and harmless species are unpalatable.Citation
Rocha, L. A., DiBattista, J. D., Sinclair-Taylor, T. H., & Berumen, M. L. (2020). Wolves in sheep’s clothing: three new cases of aggressive mimicry in Red Sea coral reef fishes. Journal of Natural History, 54(15-16), 1019–1023. doi:10.1080/00222933.2020.1780331Sponsors
This study was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Competitive Research Funds (OCRF) under Award No. CRG-1-2012-BER-002 and 59130357, baseline research funds to M.L.B., as well as a National Geographic Society Grant 9024-11 to J.D.D and California Academy of Sciences funding to L.A.R. We acknowledge logistic support from Eric Mason at Dream Divers, KAUST Coastal and Marine Resources Core Lab along with Malek Amr Gusti and the crew of the RV Thuwal, and field assistance from members of the Reef Ecology Lab at KAUST, particularly Darren Coker.Publisher
Informa UK LimitedJournal
Journal of Natural HistoryAdditional Links
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222933.2020.1780331ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/00222933.2020.1780331