Three-Dimensional Prey Reaction Field of the Juvenile Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)
Filmed observations of the feeding behaviour of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) cruising in a large aquarium were used to determine the three-dimensional shape of their reaction field, and to estimate the cross-sectional area of the effective volume searched for prey (scanning area). Reaction distance was greatest above the horizontal visual plane and ahead of the transverse visual plane, and this corresponds to the feeding behaviour of fish observed in the wild. The scanning area for a given size of prey was obtained by plotting all captures as projections on the transverse plane. This distribution of points was then divided into a series of concentric bands characterized by prey attack probabilities, which were then used as weighting factors in the final calculation of the scanning area. Our results and techniques are discussed in relation to previous studies of fish reaction fields, and a simple method of estimating scanning area for salmonids is suggested.