Dear colleagues, we are happy to share the following paper: Pace DS & Pedrazzi G (2024) Bottlenose dolphin predation on flathead grey mullets using barrier feeding techniques: a visual and acoustic case study in the Mediterranean Sea. Ethology, Ecology and Evolution
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03949370.2024.2411507 We report first-time evidence of barrier feeding techniques in the population of common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) at the estuary of the Tiber River (Rome, Italy), used to prey on the flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus). We describe an event that occurred in summer 2023, consisting of dolphins forcing schools of mullets against different types of barriers, i.e. sea surface, coastal breakwater blocks and other dolphins. We provide the first visual and acoustic account of this predation modality in the Mediterranean Sea, showing that bottlenose dolphins adopted techniques to fragmentate prey assemblages and then to limit prey escape routes by forcing them against barriers. In this way dolphins were able to catch the mullets both in air and in the water. Such a technique possibly depends on the ability of sensing each other in the hunting group and of exchanging information through different types of vocalizations. Best Daniela & Giulia -- Daniela Silvia Pace, PhD Lecturer in Ecology and Acoustics of Marine Mammals Department of Environmental Biology Sapienza University of Rome Viale dell’Università 32 00185 Rome, Italy mail: danielasilvia.p...@uniroma1.it mobile: +39 346 1039652 office: +39 06 4991 4763 skype: lagenorinco Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5121-7080 Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=it&user=RsYqB5QAAAAJ [image: Risultati immagini per logo sapienza] "*Ecology is a contingent science under the broad control of climate and evolutionary change. It is an essential science if we are to achieve conservation success. There is much left to do*" (Charles J. Krebs) [image: BMC Ecology and Evolution]
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