Spatial and Social Behavior of Acanthurus triostegus on Moorea (French Polynesia) and Palmyra Atoll (USA), 2017-2018

Human-induced environmental change has directly and indirectly affected ecosystems on a global scale, altering the behavior, ecology, and evolutionary trajectories of various species. Fishing of marine top predators and the cascading effects this may have on marine ecosystems is of critical concern. Predators are thought to be an important reason for why fish form schools, thus, a reduction in predator populations could alter schooling behavior for prey fish. Here, we investigate the indirect effects of fishing out predators on the schooling behavior of coral reef fishes. We compared the tendency to school for three fish species between two Pacific coral reefs: Palmyra Atoll (USA), an unfished reef with high predator abundance, and Moorea (French Polynesia), a fished reef with low predator abundance. We also specifically characterize movement and foraging-associated behaviors of one of these fishes, the convict surgeonfish (Acanthurus triostegus), in this same comparative context.