Martin, Cecilia C., McClure, Eva C., Webber, Kelsey, Burgo, Martina, and Hoey, Andrew S. (2024) Utilisation of macroalgal habitats by juvenile rabbitfishes on an inshore reef. Coral Reefs, 43. pp. 1843-1855.

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Abstract

Macroalgal beds are increasingly recognised as nursery habitats for coral reef fish; however, the extent to which they are used as a source of food and/or a refuge from predation remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the distribution, feeding behaviour, diet, and predation risk for juvenile rabbitfish in macroalgal habitats on Orpheus Island, Great Barrier Reef. Visual surveys revealed that juvenile and adult Siganus doliatus had different among-habitat distributions with juveniles being largely restricted to the reef flat and positively associated with macroalgal cover, while adults were abundant on the reef crest. Focal feeding observations show that within macroalgal habitats, juvenile S. doliatus targeted epiphytes on Sargassum (80% of bites), with relatively few bites taken on turfs or the Sargassum itself (27% and 8%, respectively). These observations were supported by stomach content analyses with filamentous algae being the dominant item in the stomach content of both small (< 4 cm total length, TL; 58%) and large juvenile S. doliatus (> 4 cm TL; 47%). The stomach content of juvenile S. doliatus, S. canaliculatus, and S. spinus collected from macroalgal habitats was similar, consisting primarily of filamentous algae and detritus. We found no relationship between the abundance of potential predators and juvenile rabbitfishes across the study sites. Collectively, our results suggest that juvenile rabbitfishes are using macroalgal habitats on this, and potentially other, inshore reefs as a food source and add to a growing body of literature highlighting the importance of these habitats for the early life stages of reef fish.

Item ID:	85173
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1432-0975
Copyright Information:	Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Date Deposited:	22 Apr 2025 01:54
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 100%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences @ 100%
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