Species-specific patterns of Brown chromis fecal pellet consumption (coprophagy) by parrotfishes and surgeonfishes and fecal pellet nutritional composition in Bonaire from 2019-06-27 to 2019-09-11 (NCEI Accession 0242462)

In this study, we investigated the species-specific foraging rates of parrotfishes (tribe Scarini within the Labridae) and surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae) on Brown Chromis (Chromis multilineata) fecal pellets compared to other major dietary items and the nutritional value of these fecal pellets. We conducted this study on the Caribbean island of Bonaire in summer of 2019. The associated datasets include: (1) surveys of the density of parrotfishes, surgeonfishes, and Brown Chromis (both a raw data file and transect-level summary), (2) behavioral observations of coprophagy by parrotfishes and surgeonfishes, (3) Chromis multilineata fecal pellet observations to record the frequency at which they are consumed and coprophagous fish taxa, (4) observations of the defecation rate of Chromis multilineata individuals, and (5) analysis of the nutritional content of Chromis multilineata fecal pellets. Additionally, we conducted a literature search and compiled a summary of the nutritional quality of various red, green, and brown algae, epilithic and endolithic algae matrices, and cyanobacteria to compare the nutritional quality of these food sources to the observed values for Chromis multilineata fecal pellets.