Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: The istiophorid family of billfishes is characterized by an extended rostrum or 'bill'. While various functions (e.g. foraging and hydrodynamic benefits) have been proposed for this structure, until now no study has directly investigated the mechanisms by which billfishes use their rostrum to feed on prey. Here, we present the first unequivocal evidence of how the bill is used by Atlantic sailfish (Istiophorus albicans) to attack schooling sardines in the open ocean. Using high-speed video-analysis, we show that (i) sailfish manage to insert their bill into sardine schools without eliciting an evasive response and (ii) subsequently use their bill to either tap on individual prey targets or to slash through the school with powerful lateral motions characterized by one of the highest accelerations ever recorded in an aquatic vertebrate. Our results demonstrate that the combination of stealth and rapid motion make the sailfish bill an extremely effective feeding adaptation for capturing schooling prey.
Institutions: Institute for Coastal Marine Environment, National Research Council, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Carleton University, Uppsala University, University of Copenhagen, Technical University of Applied Sciences Lübeck, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1997353268