No evidence that lionfish Pterois miles coordinate and reciprocate during hunts.

ABSTRACT: Decision rules underlying cooperative hunting can range from very simple to very complex. As lionfishes are naturally solitary hunters, an experimental study documenting active recruitment, coordination and alternating (potentially reciprocal) striking in dwarf lionfish Dendrochirus zebra received major attention. A hypothesis was that sophisticated coordinated hunting may also contribute to the successful invasion of another lionfish species, Pterois miles, in the Caribbean. However, we did not find recruitment signalling in P. miles in parts of its native range, the Red Sea. Here, we expand on these results, testing for coordinated movements and for alternation in strikes. We exposed subject pairs to inaccessible prey in three transparent housings. The two lio

SUBMITTER: Sarhan H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9929499 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature