The influence of food distribution on the aggressive behaviour of juvenile white-seabream (Diplodus sargus cadenati de la Paz, Bauchot and Daget, 1974)

Effect of competitor density on the aggressiveness of juvenile white seabream (Diplodus sargus cadenati de la Paz, Bauchot and Daget, 1974)

“…The aim of the small volume of the enclosure was to reduce the territory of the resident fish, to avoid more than one territory per tank [see Castro and Santiago, 1998], to reduce the number of fish necessary for each trial, and to increase the frequency of interactions between fish.…”

“…The level of aggressiveness has direct consequences on growth rates, and Brown et al [1992], working with Salvelinus alpinus, observed that the number of aggressive interactions decreased at high densities of fish at the same time as the mean growth of the individuals increased. On the contrary, in small and hierarchic groups, the subordinates grow less than the dominant individuals [Castro and Caballero, 1998;Castro and Santiago, 1998]. Jones [1983], working with juveniles of Pseudolabrus celiodotus in the coral reefs of New Zealand, observed that proportionate to the increase in competitor density, the frequency of aggressive interaction first increased then decreased, suggesting the existence of lower and upper thresholds of competitor density in the aggressive defense of resources.…”