HOBSON: FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS OF FISHES 



Table 45. — Food of Chromis vanderhilti. 



habits, below, all represent the orange-brown 

 form. 



Of the two, the orange-brown form is the more 

 numerous in Kona, but both abound over coral- 

 rich reefs, often together in plankton-feeding ag- 

 gregations that hover within 1 m of the sub- 

 stratum during the day. As is true of Abudefduf 

 abdominalis and Dascyllus albi sella, described 

 above, C. leucurus remains closer to the reef when 

 light is diminished, and dives to cover when 

 threatened (Figure 31). At night it generally is out 

 of sight within crevices. 



All five specimens (57: 37-70 mm) speared dur- 

 ing midday had their stomachs full of food, includ- 

 ing fresh material, as listed in Table 46. 



Swerdloff (1970a) described the behavior of two 

 spatially related species of Chromis in the Mar- 

 shall Islands, C. leucurus, and C. dimidiatus, and 

 reported their food to be calanoid copepods, fish 

 eggs, and larval tunicates. 



CONCLUSION. — Chromis leucurus is a diur- 

 nal planktivore that takes primarily copepods 

 and larvaceans. 



Figure 31. — Members of an aggregation of Chromis leucurus, a damselfish, having been threatened, dive from their 

 plankton-feeding location in the water column toward shelter among the coral below. 



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