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Chemical excretions of angled bonefish Albula vulpes and their potential use as predation cues by juvenile lemon sharks Negaprion brevirostris
Author(s) -
Dallas L. J.,
Shultz A. D.,
Moody A. J.,
Sloman K. A.,
Danylchuk A. J.
Publication year - 2010
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.1095-8649.2010.02738.x
Subject(s) - vulpes , biology , urea , zoology , juvenile , fishery , predation , ecology , biochemistry
Bonefish Albula vulpes ( n = 7) exercised to exhaustion and air exposed for 1 min as part of a catch‐and‐release angling event were found to excrete both ammonia and urea, but cortisol and lactate were below detectable levels. Urea made up a greater proportion of total nitrogen excretion from these fish at all time points following an angling event. When captive juvenile lemon sharks Negaprion brevirostris ( n = 12) were exposed to a 30 s pulse of these chemicals [ammonia (500 mM), cortisol (20 µg l −1 ), lactate (6 mM) or urea (3 mM)], they showed a significant reduction in the frequency of resting behaviours when exposed to ammonia and urea than when exposed to control water. It appears that products excreted by A. vulpes , particularly ammonia and urea, may provide an olfactory cue for the post‐release predation of A. vulpes by N. brevirostris during catch‐and‐release angling events.