Deep Water Corals as Fish Food

Abstract

DIRECT observations reveal fish to be predators on most species of reef corals. Biting of the tip ends of branches, rasping the surface layers of the polyp, and rasping of the algae or other organisms attached to the non-living surface of the coral, are among the many methods used in obtaining the polyp of the coral and associated animals and plants as food. Direct correlations can be obtained between the occurrence of certain kinds of fish and the type of coral—a relationship which may be largely attributed to the sheltering effect of the coral. Hiatt and Strasburg¹, however, found a direct relationship between the coral and fish occurrences in terms of both habitat and predation.