Juvenile silver grunter Mesopristes argenteus shift benthic objects to access food

Abstract

Juvenile silver grunter Mesopristes argenteus were observed, photographed and filmed manoeuvring objects with their snout and nape to expose benthic prey in two short steep coastal streams, including in the micro-estuary of one of these streams within the Australian Wet Tropics. Objects that were moved included leaves, sticks, bark, wood, seed pods, rainforest fruit, coral fragments and pebbles. Follower fish were sometimes associated with the foraging behaviour. K E Y W O R D Sallochthonous patches, benthivory, follower species, Mesopristes, nuclear species, underwater video Fish move objects intentionally, including for reproductive purposes such as nest building and for play (Brown, 2015;Burghardt et al., 2015). Additionally, a growing number of teleosts have been observed