HOBSON; FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS OF FISHES 



Table 55. — Food of Slethojulis balteata. 



rocks. Much sand has accumulated here, and 

 periodically they pause during their foraging to 

 blow a small cloud of sand and debris from their 

 mouths. At night this wrasse is out of sight, pre- 

 sumably resting in reef crevices. 



All 12 specimens (169: 110-225 mm) speared 

 during daylight had a gut full of material, much of 

 it fresh, as listed in Table 56. The gammaridean 

 amphipods, all shorter than 3 mm, were the major 

 prey of even the largest individuals. Furthermore, 

 the mollusks, which were the only other 

 significant prey, were mostly prosobranch gas- 

 tropods also shorter than 3 mm. 



Undoubtedly, the small size and other charac- 

 teristics of these prey are reflected in the feeding 

 morphology of A. cuvier and its congeners, certain 

 features of which set them apart from most other 

 labrids in Kona. In dentition, the species of 

 Anampses, with two flattened teeth projecting 

 forward from the front of each jaw, are unlike 

 those of any other genus of Hawaiian fishes (Gos- 

 line and Brock, 1960). Obviously this specialized 

 dentition effectively captures gammarideans that 

 inhabit the low stubble of algae overgrowing most 

 basalt boulders. Compared with most other lab- 



rids, species of Anampses have the pharyngeal 

 teeth reduced, which is expected considering the 

 relatively small proportion of crushed items in the 

 diet. The food items are mostly so small they need 

 not be crushed upon ingestion. Gammarideans 

 and certain other prey of similar size regularly 

 pass intact through the pharynx of even those 

 labrids with well-developed pharyngeal teeth (see 

 accounts of other labrids in this report). 



CONCLUSION. — Anampses cuvier is a diurnal 

 predator that mostly plucks small benthic or- 

 ganisms, especially gammarideans, from rocky 

 substrata. 



Coris gaimard (Quoy and Gaimard) — 

 hinalea lolo 



This wrasse is most numerous where the reef is 

 interspersed with small patches of sand. It forages 

 in this sand during daylight, usually close to the 

 base of rock or coral. Of all the wrasses treated in 

 this report, this one is the most adept at excavat- 

 ing buried organisms. Moving its head sidewise, it 

 effectively overturns small stones or digs in the 



993 



