Ecology Summary - Gymnothorax castaneus

Language:

Main Ref.	Grove, J.S. and R.J. Lavenberg, 1997
Remarks	Lives in rocky, boulder strewn areas and walls. Lurks in holes, crevices and dark recesses during day; forage in the open at night. Constantly opens and closes its mouth--an action required for respiration, not a threat (Ref. 5227). May occasionally wander into open sandy areas about 10-20 m from cover. Feeds mainly on crustaceans and fishes and are highly responsive to stimuli emanating from wounded or distressed prey at distances exceeding 20 m (Ref. 28023). Most often seen with their head protruding from crevices during the day. Are known to wander forth to attack their prey at daytime. The prey need not be small or injured to elicit an attack . Being a large and aggressive moray, it presents a danger to lobster divers who enter caves or crevices (Ref. 28023).

Main Ref.

Grove, J.S. and R.J. Lavenberg, 1997

Remarks

Lives in rocky, boulder strewn areas and walls. Lurks in holes, crevices and dark recesses during day; forage in the open at night. Constantly opens and closes its mouth--an action required for respiration, not a threat (Ref. 5227). May occasionally wander into open sandy areas about 10-20 m from cover. Feeds mainly on crustaceans and fishes and are highly responsive to stimuli emanating from wounded or distressed prey at distances exceeding 20 m (Ref. 28023). Most often seen with their head protruding from crevices during the day. Are known to wander forth to attack their prey at daytime. The prey need not be small or injured to elicit an attack . Being a large and aggressive moray, it presents a danger to lobster divers who enter caves or crevices (Ref. 28023).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Gymnothorax castaneus may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Hard Bottom: rocky;
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats	Coral Reefs;
Special habitats Ref.	Dominici-Arosemena, A. and M. Wolff, 2006

Associations

Ref.
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Grove, J.S. and R.J. Lavenberg, 1997
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Dominici-Arosemena, A. and M. Wolff, 2006

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition
From individual food items	4.03	0.67			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.

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