INDIVIDUAL SPECIALIZED FORAGING REPERTOIRES IN THE PISCIVOROUS CICHLID FISH LEPIDIOLAMPROLOGUS-PROFUNDICOLA

Hunting behaviour is described for 18 individually identified fish of the piscivorous cichlid Lepidiolamprologus profundicola in Lake Tangan yika. When hunting, individuals of this species aim at, dash at and tr y to capture various kinds of prey fish. Most individuals exhibited on ly a few of nine documented hunting techniques, each of which was rela ted to a particular microhabitat. These specializations were consisten t during periods of more than 4 months. The hunting specializations of each fish were not a simple reflection of the relative abundance of t he potential hunting places that each predator encountered; they were not always ascribable to intraspecific competition or phenotypes (size , sex, colour patterns); nor were they associated with specific prey s pecies. Capture success rate was low, and failures to capture were due to rapid flight of the prey fish. It is suggested that individual spe cialized foraging behaviour was developed mainly through learning.