Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 3 June 1983:
Vol. 220. no. 4601, pp. 1047 - 1049
DOI: 10.1126/science.220.4601.1047
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Fish Schools: An Asset to Corals

JUDY L. MEYER 1, ERIC T. SCHULTZ 1, and GENE S. HELFMAN 1

1 Zoology Department and Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602

Schools of juvenile haemulid fish feed in sea grass beds at night. By day they rest over coral heads, where they excrete substantial quantities of ammonium and particulate nitrogen and phosphorus into the nutrient-poor waters. The percentages of these nutrients contributed by the fish were comparable to those from other sources. Coral heads with resident fish schools grew faster than those without resident schools, indicating that fish may be more beneficial to the corals than has been assumed.

Submitted on July 29, 1982
Revised on November 12, 1982


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
From the Cover: Fish extinctions alter nutrient recycling in tropical freshwaters.
P. B. McIntyre, L. E. Jones, A. S. Flecker, and M. J. Vanni (2007)
PNAS 104, 4461-4466
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Herbivory in Asymbiotic Soft Corals.
K. E. Fabricius, Y. Benayahu, and A. Genin (1995)
Science 268, 90-92
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)