by EWEN CALLAWAY
First sighting of ramming behaviour in bumphead parrotfish during competition for females.
Trespassers on the mating grounds of male bumphead parrotfish soon learn a hard lesson. The reef-munching fish fend off competing males using aggressive headbutting — a form of behaviour that has never previously been seen in the species. A team of US researchers reveals the surprising finding in the journal PLoS ONE this week1.
Growing to a weight of more than 75 kilograms and up to 1.5 metres in length, the giant bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) is one of the heftiest reef fish in the world — but also one of the most shy around humans.
“These really are underwater buffalos, gentle giants that play a critical role in coral reef ecology. But when reproduction is involved, it is time to fight,” says David Bellwood, a marine ecologist at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, who was not involved in the study.
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