Functional Groups
709 fishes across 61 species and 16 fish families were processed from
our Caribbean field sites and were assigned to one of 12 functional
groups (Table 1). Also included in Table 1 are results from Artim et al.
(2017), where gnathiid isopods were positively identified in the stomach
contents of Caribbean nocturnal microcarnivorous fishes. Two species
from that study were also collected in this study but were grouped
separately due to the different time of day they were caught. Fish
species were separated by functional group rather than Family to cluster
species with similar diets and, in some cases, habitat preference (Table
1). The only species in the “dedicated cleaner” group isElacatinus evelynae , and the sole species in the
“facultative cleaner” group is Thalassoma bifasciatum . We did
not include any other species in this group (such as juvenile haemulids
or pomacanthids) because they were rare at our sites. The
“planktivore” group included species that primarily feed on
invertebrates in the water column. “Roving herbivores” and
“scrapers” include Acanthurid surgeonfishes and Labrid parrotfishes,
respectively. Both groups are similar in that the species consume
material off the substrate and often forage across an entire reef (if
not multiple reefs) but differ in what they consume (Randall 1967).
Site-attached Pomacentrid damselfishes and Blenneid blennies make up the
“territorial herbivores”. Invertivorous species were separated based
on habitat. Specifically, Mullid goatfishes, Coryphopterus spp.gobiids, and Gerreid mojarras comprised the “sand invertivores”, while
small Labrisomid blennies and coral-associated gobiids and Chaenopsid
blennies were grouped together as “benthic invertivores”. The mobile
Labrid wrasses and Tetraodontid puffers were placed in the
“invertivore” functional group. Carnivorous species were split into
the “roving carnivores”, comprised of the Carangid jacks, and the
“microcarnivores” which includes small Haemulid grunts, Lutjanid
snappers, and Serranid hamlets that eat a variety of invertebrates but
can also eat small fishes (Randall 1967). Finally, while many species
exhibit omnivorous tendencies, such as benthophagous Pomacentrids that
will occasionally consume invertebrates (Ceccarelli 2007), the
Chaetodontid butterflyfishes and Pomacanthid angelfishes had the most
even balance of algal and animal material and were thus the only fishes
included as “omnivores”. Individuals from the Balistoid filefishes,
Sciaenid croakers, and Scorpaenid scorpionfishes were not included
because very few were encountered/collected. Additionally, 3 species
were only identified to the Family level, but this did not impact the
functional group they were assigned to.