Abstract
Feeding behaviour determines the resources that the stickleback has available for investment in survivorship, growth and reproduction. It is the critical activity of the daily life of the fish. The details of the feeding behaviour determine both the qualitative composition of the diet and the quantity of food eaten. A feeding or foraging sequence can be broken down into a number of elements. The fish initiates a search, which eventually terminates with the discovery of a potential prey. This prey is approached and if it tries to evade capture it is pursued. If the prey does not escape, capture then ingestion follow. At each stage in this sequence after the detection of the prey, the fish may reject that prey and either turn its attention to another prey item or resume searching. The number of feeding sequences that are completed during a day will determine the quantity of food consumed, and the pattern of rejections and acceptances will determine the composition of the diet.
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© 1984 R.J. Wootton
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Wootton, R.J. (1984). Feeding. In: A Functional Biology of Sticklebacks. Functional Biology Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8513-8_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8513-8_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-8515-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-8513-8
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