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American Zoologist 1974 14(4):1099-1118; doi:10.1093/icb/14.4.1099
© 1974 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
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Character Displacement and Fish Behavior, Especially in Coral Reef Communities

J. R. NURSALL
Department of Zoology, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Character displacement is a phenomenon of the species border directed towards niche specification. It is post-speciational and prezygotic, and has a strong behavioral component. It has not been described in studies of fish by many ichthyologists. Examples are sought, not always successfully, among Coregonidae, Cyprinidae, Catostomidae, Gadidae, Gasterosteidae, Poeciliidae, Cichlidae, Cottidae, Periophthalminae, and Pomacentridae. Character displacement is not invariable in the sense of Brown and Wilson (1956). Examples may be relatively clear cut under conditions of "r" selection, or complicated, involving several species under "K" selection. It has some significance as a descriptive tool in systematics.


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