Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
The dusky dottyback is not just a fish; it’s also a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” changing color to blend in with its prey so that it can pick off the unsuspecting offspring, according to a new study published online last Monday in the journal Current Biology.
Fabio Cortesi, a visiting scholar at the University of Queensland, and his colleagues tested their theory by embedding dottybacks in with their regular prey, the juvenile damselfish. They found that the dottybacks, which are native to the Great Barrier Reef, are up to three times more likely to have success feeding on young prey if they alter their colors to resemble the damselfish.
Masters of disguise prey on damsel(fish) in distress
“The dusky dottyback and damselfish are similar in body shape and size, so this mimicry works really well, allowing them to mingle and sneak up on their prey,” Cortesi explained in an article printed Thursday by the website Futurity. “Smaller juvenile damselfish are the primary prey, but the adults don’t overly react to the dottybacks either. They are a master of disguise.”
He and scientists from the University of Basel, the Australian National University, and the University of Cambridge set out to determine why some dusky dottybacks were yellow and some were brown. To do so, they built artificial reefs out of live coral and coral rubble, and then examined if the fish changed color based on their habitat or that of the other fish that live there.
“The team looked at whether they were a different species or population, but they’re actually identical genetically and simply have the ability to change color between brown and yellow,” Cortesi explained, adding that brown dottybacks will change colors to match nearby damselfish “over the course of about two weeks” after the two types of fish begin sharing habitat.
Not one, but two disguises
According to the Washington Post, the discovery is unique in the realm of zoology, and unlike other types of creatures than mimic their environment or their prey, dusky dottybacks can change to either brown or yellow, based on the hue of the damselfish surrounding them at a given time. They can adapt to match the color or both types of damselfish, the newspaper said.
“This is the first time that anyone has been able to show… a species that is capable of mimicking multiple things,” William Feeney, a Cambridge University research fellow and co-author of the new study, said in an interview with the
Post.
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