Meeting Abstract
It is commonly argued that high locomotor performance enhances an animal’s ability to survive predation. However, it is largely unclear what metrics of performance truly matter to survival in predator-prey interactions. We presently studied the strategic implications of the escape response in fish when they encountered fish predators. This was achieved by recording high-speed kinematics of predator-prey interactions and by developing game-theory models of these interaction. We considered these interactions in two very different experimental systems: the suction feeding of the omnivorous adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) as they preyed on zebrafish larvae and the ram feeding of the piscivorous bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) as they preyed on mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus). The escape response was effective for enhancing survival in both experimental systems. However, our game modeling suggests that increasing the speed of an escape and varying its direction have negligible effects on survival. Instead, it is the timing and distance of an escape which offer the greatest impacts on the outcome of a predatory encounter. These results demonstrate how the importance of performance metrics depends on strategy adopted by the predator.
