Exploring Temporal and Regulatory Behaviors of Foraging Groups of Juvenile Coho Salmon.

Abstract

Juvenile coho salmon choose to enter foraging groups because of the benefits of group membership, which should vary as peaked function of group size. Individual benefits are highest at the optimal group size, and decrease with the addition of new members until an equilibrium size is reached. Our chief findings to date are that foraging success is positively correlated with group stability, and that transient fish feed no differently, but are two times more likely to be attached than residents. Our tentative conclusion is that group membership is regulated through aggression rather than variability in foraging success.