The ambon damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis and lemon damsel P. moluccensis are common site attached species of damselfish (family Pomacentridae) found throughout the Indo-Pacific on shallow reef habitats at the interface between the live coral and rubble reef edge (Fig. S1 ). Both species have a similar larval duration after a demersal egg phase and settle at similar sizes (P. amboinensis 17.8 d, 11.2 mm SL; P. moluccensis 19.4 d, 10.7 mm SL; [17] ). Metamorphosis is concomitant with settlement and in these species involves a major change in pigmentation (transparent to coloured) that occurs within hours, but involves little obvious change in shape [36] . However, settlement does involve major changes in physiology [37] and it is likely that marked changes also occur in the sensory systems [38] . A laboratory-based habitat selection experiment has previously shown that both species preferentially settle to healthy live coral [39] . Both species settle naturally to patches of mixed live and dead coral. Both are also planktivores as juveniles and eat a similar array of prey items (Text S1 ). A tagging study of 295 newly settled P. amboinensis on the continuous reef edge found that fish moved little over the first 3 months after settlement (mean = 0.63 m [40] ). It is likely that P. moluccensis has a similar degree of site attachment (pers. obs.).
Research on newly settled P. amboinensis has shown that fish enter the reef with high variability in their behavioural traits (e.g. boldness, aggression) and these traits are displayed in a manner that is consistent on small time scales of hours to days ([41] (link), [42] (link), Mero, Meekan and McCormick unpublished data]. Establishment of dominance hierarchies occurs within minutes of settlement within the species, which can rapidly lead to the eviction of subordinates from small habitat patches [31] (link). Because of the rapid establishment of territories and the high juvenile mortality, it was decided that 60 min was an ecologically relevant time to use for the establishment of residents in the priority experiments for the present study.
The present datasets were collected at Lizard Island (14° 40′S 145° 28′ E) on the northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia, between October 2007 and March 2010. Both newly metamorphosed juveniles and recently settled juveniles from the reef were used for field experiments. Light traps (see [43] for design; small trap) were used to collect both fish species at the end of their larval phase prior to their settlement to the reef. These newly metamorphosed fish were separated by species and placed into 60 L aquaria with aerated flowing seawater. Fish were kept for 24 h and fed newly hatched Artemia sp. twice per day ad libitum to allow recovery from (or acclimation to) the stress of capture, prior to use in experiments. Juveniles were collected from a shallow fringing reef at the back of Lizard Island using a solution of dilute clove oil and hand nets. All fishes used in the experiments were placed into a small clip-seal bag with a small amount of aerated seawater and measured with calipers (±0.1 mm) and then transferred into individually labeled 1 L clip-seal bags for transport. To reduce transport and handling stress, fish in bags were transported to the field site in a 30 L bin of seawater (to reduce temperature fluctuations) under subdued light conditions.
Research on newly settled P. amboinensis has shown that fish enter the reef with high variability in their behavioural traits (e.g. boldness, aggression) and these traits are displayed in a manner that is consistent on small time scales of hours to days ([41] (link), [42] (link), Mero, Meekan and McCormick unpublished data]. Establishment of dominance hierarchies occurs within minutes of settlement within the species, which can rapidly lead to the eviction of subordinates from small habitat patches [31] (link). Because of the rapid establishment of territories and the high juvenile mortality, it was decided that 60 min was an ecologically relevant time to use for the establishment of residents in the priority experiments for the present study.
The present datasets were collected at Lizard Island (14° 40′S 145° 28′ E) on the northern Great Barrier Reef, Australia, between October 2007 and March 2010. Both newly metamorphosed juveniles and recently settled juveniles from the reef were used for field experiments. Light traps (see [43] for design; small trap) were used to collect both fish species at the end of their larval phase prior to their settlement to the reef. These newly metamorphosed fish were separated by species and placed into 60 L aquaria with aerated flowing seawater. Fish were kept for 24 h and fed newly hatched Artemia sp. twice per day ad libitum to allow recovery from (or acclimation to) the stress of capture, prior to use in experiments. Juveniles were collected from a shallow fringing reef at the back of Lizard Island using a solution of dilute clove oil and hand nets. All fishes used in the experiments were placed into a small clip-seal bag with a small amount of aerated seawater and measured with calipers (±0.1 mm) and then transferred into individually labeled 1 L clip-seal bags for transport. To reduce transport and handling stress, fish in bags were transported to the field site in a 30 L bin of seawater (to reduce temperature fluctuations) under subdued light conditions.
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