Meeting Abstract

78.3  Sunday, Jan. 6  Feeding kinematics in damselfishes (Pomacentridae): ecological diversity and repeated trophic convergence CARTER, C.B.*; RICE, A.N.; WESTNEAT, M.W.; COOPER, W.J.; Washington State University; Cornell University; The Field Museum of Natural History; Washington State University casey.carter@email.wsu.edu

The damselfishes represent a species-rich lineage that forms a major component of the fish fauna on all coral reefs, and as such they represent an important part of the vertebrate trophic diversity present in these communities. The evolution of the functional morphology of damselfish skulls is characterized by rapid and repeated shifts between a limited number of trophic niches, such that the adaptive diversification of their trophic ecology has primarily consisted of multiple shifts between three primary feeding niches: herbivory, planktivory and a limited type of omnivory. This pattern of evolution has resulted in repeated convergence on skull shapes that are associated with either primarily benthic-feeding niches (herbivory and omnivory) or pelagic-feeding niches (planktivory). Whether or not the skull kinematics of damselfishes in separate feeding guilds exhibit similar patterns of movement has not been previously studied. Here we examined the feeding kinematics of 5 damselfish species that represent wide coverage of the pomacentrid lineage, and which include an herbivorous species, an omnivore, and three convergently evolved planktivores. We used high-speed video recordings of feeding events from wild-caught fishes captured in the waters around Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef. We compare the feeding performance of damselfishes that are both trophically and morphologically diverse, as well as those that are trophically divergent, but distantly related.