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School size affects individual feeding success in three‐spined sticklebacks ( Gastevosteus aculeatus L.)
Author(s) -
Ranta E.,
Kaitala V.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1991.tb04402.x
Subject(s) - biology , gasterosteus , three spined stickleback , stickleback , foraging , predation , fish <actinopterygii> , benthic zone , ecology , zoology , fishery
The effect of school size on the feeding success of individual three‐spined sticklebacks was studied. We found that the proportion of fish feeding on benthic prey increased with school size and that fish in large schools tended to start feeding sooner than fish in small schools. The total number of strikes also increased in larger schools. Despite this evidence for a foraging benefit associated with school membership we propose that improved feeding returns do not alone explain stickleback schooling.