A NEW HETEROSPECIFIC FORAGING ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE PUDDINGWIFE WRASSE, HALICHOERES RADIATUS, AND THE BAR JACK, CARANX RUBER - EVALUATIONOF THE FORAGING CONSEQUENCES

The bar jack, Caranx ruber, was commonly observed to follow individual puddingwife wrasses, Halichoeres radiatus, that were foraging on the substrate. Individuals of both species actively pursued the other to m aintain these heterospecific foraging 'teams', were sometimes attracte d to feeding acts initiated by team partners, and the foraging rates o f teamed jacks and wrasses were positively correlated. Pilfering of fo od items was rare, suggesting little, if any, competition cost of this foraging association. The ratio of bites to search in teamed jacks wa s over three times that when solitary, and jacks were sometimes aggres sive to conspecifics attempting to join their team, suggesting that th e association is beneficial to the jacks. Both bite and search rates w ere higher in puddingwifes when teamed with a jack, indicating that th e association also benefits the wrasses. Benefits to puddingwifes may be derived directly from attendants because wrasses were sometimes att racted to jack foraging acts. However, increased foraging in wrasses m ay also be a consequence of heightened motivation to feed owing to het erospecific social facilitation.