The Relationship Between Activity Level and Habitat and its Influence on Striping Patterns in Schoolmaster Fish

TL;DRAbstract

The Lutjanus apodus (schoolmaster) fish experiences metachrosis prompted by a variety of external and internal factors including change in background color, habitat, excitement, courtship, feeding, and threat of predation. We investigated correlation between the presence of stripes on schoolmaster fish and their activity level and environment. Our data was collected in three different habitat types: mangrove, reef, and grassbed. We swam from one end of the bay to the other and noted the number of schoolmasters seen, striping patterns, activity level, and whether or not they were in a structure. We collected data at nine locations around the island. We found the highest population density in the mangrove and grassbed habitats but the most data variety in reef habitats. We ran a chi-squared test and our data showed no relation between striping patterns and activity level and habitat. We concluded that further research and a larger sample size are necessary to achieve more conclusive resu

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