Experimental evaluation of the roles of habitat selection and interspecific competition in determining patterns of host use by two anemonefishes

Abstract

We examined the roles of interspecific cornpetition and habitat preference in determining the distribution of 2 anemonefish species, Premnas biaculeatus and Amphiprion melanopus, among the 2 rnorphs of the anemone Entacmaea quadricolour. This anemone species has a solitary morph which is usually occupied by a single pair of P. biaculeatus and a colonial morph which is usually occupied by large social groups of A. melanopus. The possibility that interspecific competition, and/or preference of adults of each species of fish for the anemone morph it usually occupies, determines this distribution was tested using aquarium based expenments. Adults of one species. A. melanopus, displayed a preference for the anemone morph it usually occupies in the field, but P. biaculeatus did not. Instead, P.