The role of individual recognition in the territorial behaviour of the threespot damselfish,eupomacentrus planifrons

Abstract

Based on model‐bottle experiments conducted on the shallow reef off the eastern coast of Panama, adult threespot damselfish, Eupomacentrus planifrons, discriminate between neighbouring and more distant conspecific individuals, consistently attacking the latter more vigorously than the former. They do not, however, discriminate between neighbouring and strange individuals of the congener, E. dorsopunicans, or of the surgeonfish, Acanthurus coeruleus. Individual recognition of conspecifics appears to be based on location and colour pattern of the individual; its size and behaviour seem less critical. These results are compared to the similar behaviour of songbirds and discussed in relation to the mechanisms that allocate time and energy of the damselfish's territorial defence.