Habitat-choice interactions between pike predators and perch prey depend on water transparency

Abstract

A mesocosm experiment indicated that water transparency influenced antipredator behaviour in young-of-the-year perch Perca fluviatilis, which partly contradicts another study by showing that high transparency decreases rather than increases perch antipredatory use of vegetated habitats when predators are also free to choose habitat. The present study emphasizes the importance of simultaneously considering both prey and predator habitat-choice behaviours when evaluating predator-prey interactions in relation to water visibility © 2007 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.