Predatory fish

A barracuda preying on a smaller fish

Predatory fish are hypercarnivorous fish that actively prey upon other fish or aquatic animals, with examples including shark, billfish, barracuda, pike/muskellunge, tuna, dolphinfish, walleye, perch and salmon. Some omnivorous fish, such as the red-bellied piranha, can occasionally also be predatory, although they are not strictly regarded as obligately predatory fish.

Populations of large predatory fish in the global oceans were estimated to be about 10% of their pre-industrial levels by 2003,[1] and they are most at risk of extinction; there was a disproportionate level of large predatory fish extinctions during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago.[2] Creation of marine reserves has been found to restore populations of large predatory fish such as the Serranidae — groupers and sea bass.[3]

Predatory fish switch between types of prey in response to variations in their abundance. Such changes in preference are disproportionate and are selected for as evolutionarily efficient.[4] Predatory fish may become a pest if they are introduced into an ecosystem in which they become a new top predator. An example, which has caused much trouble in Maryland and Florida, is the snakehead fish.[5]

Predatory fish such as sharks, billfish, dolphinfish and tuna form a part of the human diet and are targeted by fisheries, but they tend to concentrate significant quantities of mercury in their bodies because they are high in the food chain, especially as apex predators, due to biomagnification.[6]

Predators are an important factor to consider in managing fisheries, and methods for doing so are available and used in some places.[7]

Additionally, the existence of these predators also allows its prey to evolve countermeasures through natural selection. Consequently, the predators and prey will be locked in an evolutionary arms race, each looking to gain the upper hand on the other. The presence of fish predators play a large role in the size, shape and swimming performance of the Lithobates clamitans tadpoles. The presence of these predators in their habitat causes the tadpoles to develop small bodies and large tail muscles in order to escape from their predators quicker and more efficiently.

Some predatory fish, such as lamnid sharks, billfishes, tuna, opah and butterfly kingfish, have the ability for cranial endothermy, i.e., the ability to elevate eye and brain temperatures, which helps with vision and neural function during ambient temperature changes.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Myers, Ransom A.; Worm, Boris (15 May 2003), "Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities", Nature, 423 (6937), Macmillan: 280–283, Bibcode:2003Natur.423..280M, doi:10.1038/nature01610, PMID 12748640, S2CID 2392394.
  2. ^ "Study unravels why certain fishes became extinct 65 million years ago". eScienceNews. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
  3. ^ Garry R. Russ; Angel C. Alcala (2003), "Marine Reserves: rates and patterns of recovery and decline of predatory fish, 1983–2000" (PDF), Ecological Applications, 13 (6): 1553–1565, doi:10.1890/01-5341
  4. ^ WW Murdoch; S Avery; MEB Smyth (1975), "Switching in predatory fish", Ecology, 56 (5), Ecological Society of America: 1094–1105, doi:10.2307/1936149, JSTOR 1936149
  5. ^ US acts over predatory fish, BBC, 23 July 2002
  6. ^ Definition of predatory species of fish to which the higher level of methyl mercury applies, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 6 May 1994, archived from the original on 4 March 2016, retrieved 10 May 2020
  7. ^ Methods to consider predators in fishery management, The Pew Charitable Trusts, 7 May 2013
  8. ^ Runcie, Rosa; et al. (2009). "Evidence for cranial endothermy in the opah (Lampris guttatus)". J Exp Biol. 212 (4): 461–470.