2006/06/01 by Lucélia Nobre Carvalho, Jansen Zuanon, Iván Sazima · 2 citations
Environmental Science · #Batesian mimicry #Biology #Camouflage #Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies #Crypsis #Ecology #Fish Ecology and Management Studies #Fish biology, ecology, and behavior #Mimicry #Predation #Shrimp #Zoology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1590/s1679-62252006000200008
openalex publication_date 2006/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/19
Camouflage is one of the most widespread defence modes used by substrate-dwelling animals, whereas transparency is generally found in open-water organisms. Both these defence types are regarded as effective against visually guided predators. We present here three assemblages of similarly-sized freshwater fish and shrimp species which apparently rely on camouflage and transparency to evade some of their potential predators. In one of the associations, there is a transition from cryptic colours and translucency to transparency of the component species according to the position each of them occupies in the habitat. The likeness between the fishes and the shrimps is here regarded as a type of protective association similar to numerical or social mimicry. Additionally, we suggest that the assemblage may contain Batesian-like mimicry components.