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Wiley InterScience | ||||||||||||||
  Ecological EntomologyVolume 32 Issue 5, Pages 492 - 495 Published Online: 20 Jul 2007 Journal compilation © 2010 The Royal Entomological Society
Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 64K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking  Predation of a cave fish (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae) by a giant water-bug (Belostoma, Belostomatidae) in a Mexican sulphur cave Copyright 2007 The Authors Journal compilation KEYWORDS Cave ecology • cave fish • predator–prey interactions • prey preferences ABSTRACTAbstract. 1. Caves are often assumed to be predator-free environments for cave fishes. This has been proposed to be a potential benefit of colonising these otherwise harsh environments. In order to test this hypothesis, the predator–prey interaction of a belostomatid (predator) and a cave fish (prey) occurring in the Cueva del Azufre (Tabasco, Mexico) was investigated with two separate experiments. 2. In one experiment, individual Belostoma were given a chance to prey on a cave fish, the cave form of the Atlantic molly (Poecilia mexicana), to estimate feeding rates and size-specific prey preferences of the predator. In the other experiment, population density of Belostoma was estimated using a mark–recapture analysis in one of the cave chambers. 3. Belostomatids were found to heavily prey on cave mollies and to exhibit a prey preference for large fish. The mark–recapture analysis revealed a high population density of the heteropterans in the cave. 4. The absence of predators in caves is not a general habitat feature for cave fishes. None the less predation regimes differ strikingly between epigean and hypogean habitats. The prey preference of Belostoma indicates that cave-dwelling P. mexicana experience size-specific predation pressure comparable with surface populations, which may have implications for life-history evolution in this cave fish. Accepted 21 March 2007 | 
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