The Behaviour of Reef-Dwelling Sparid Fishes

Abstract

Notes on the behaviour of six species of sparid fish, all rock reef dwelling, and forming an important section of the inshore line fish industry in the southern Cape, are given. It is shown that these fishes, although closely related, show very different feeding patterns. Notes on the breeding of Spondyliosoma emarginatum are given, and the male behaviour in nature is shown to differ from that observed in an aquarium.