Ecology of Balistes vetula
 
Main Ref. Randall, J.E., 1967
Remarks Found in coral reef environments, near the bottom, from shallow sandy or grassy areas to the upper slope of the reef. Employs different feeding behaviours to capture and manipulate different type of prey, for example, it uses suction feeding to capture worms and other soft prey, while it feeds on crabs and sea urchins by directly biting off parts of the prey (Ref. 45549). Sessile invertebrate feeder (Ref. 57616).

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 Balistes vetula may be found.

Habitat

Substrate Soft Bottom Hard Bottom;
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats Beds: sea grass; Coral Reefs;
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.
Associations
Associated with Cleaned by Pomacanthus paru observed at the reefs of the Abrolhos Archipelago, off eastern Brazil (Ref. 40094).
Association remarks
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref. Randall, J.E., 1967
Feeding habit hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref. Dominici-Arosemena, A. and M. Wolff, 2005
Trophic Level(s)
Estimation method Original sample Unfished population Remark
Troph s.e. Troph s.e.
From diet composition 3.82 0.13 3.44 0.44 Troph of juv./adults from 2 studies.
From individual food items 3.34 0.45 Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref. Randall, J.E., 1967
(e.g. 346)
(e.g. oophagy)
Back to Search
Comments & Corrections
cfm script by eagbayani,  ,  php script by rolavides, 2/5/2008 ,  last modified by mbactong, 10/24/19