Yellowfin bream, Acanthopagrus australis, reorientate individual shells in search of prey

Responses of Gross's stinkfish, Callionymus grossi (Ogilby 1910) to perceived threats

“…During the fourth snorkelling session, the barracuda was only observed away from the dragonet (>20 m) in deeper water (20–30 m from shore in 2–4 m depth) and the dragonet was not seen to bury. There was noticeably more macroalgae fragments and mangrove leaves on the benthos in this session (relative to previous sessions), and yellowfin bream were observed occasionally moving macroalgae fragments, leaves and sticks but mostly shells fragments and less so pebbles (Ebner, 2021). At that time, the observer approached the dragonet for close‐up photographs toward the end of the session and again the dorsal fin was only raised when the gap was less than 0.5 m whereby the dragonet slowly moved away.…”

“…During this first session, the observer initially (primarily) focussed on a nearby yellowfin bream and its feeding behaviour (see Ebner, 2021) and opportunistically observed the dragonet over the first hour. Later the dragonet became the primary focus.…”

“…The behaviour of an individual Callionymus grossi (Ogilby 1910) Callionymidae [~130 mm total length (TL)] was observed over the course of four consecutive daily snorkelling sessions on high‐tide from 26 to 29 November 2020 (also see Ebner, 2021 for a more detailed description of the site and dives) in the Maroochy River estuary (26°39′03.12″S, 153°05′34.05″E), Australia. Over the course of the four sessions, the focal individual primarily moved slowly (a few centimetres per second) along the benthos within an area of about 20 m along the shoreline spanning about 5–15 m from shore in 0.3–1.2 m depth.…”