Feeding Habits of the Giant Clingfish Chorisochismus Dentex (Pisces: Gobiesocidae)

Abstract

The feeding habits of the giant clingfish Chorisochismus dentex in the eastern Cape Province, South Africa, are described. Juveniles share a diet of small crustaceans with numerous other fish species but adults feed on sea urchins as well as on a rarely used resource — limpets (Patellidae) which are firmly attached to rocks in the intertidal zone. The limpets are removed by levering with the large upper incisiform teeth. Undigested shells are eliminated whole encased in mucous capsules.