Data and code from: Chemical cues facilitate foraging across the water-land interface in a resident predatory fish

Transitional ecosystems, such as the land-sea interface, propagate
nutrient flow and species interactions. Organisms spanning these
boundaries act as important models for understanding of the evolution of
sensory modalities that promote movement between physically distinct
media, and the ecological consequences of ecosystem connectivity. Behavior
is fundamentally guided by sensory processing, yet how sensory information
is transmitted and collected is heavily dependent on the physical
environmental medium. The flow of stimuli across the land-sea interface
and the behavioral responses to stimuli are understudied. Vertebrates that
span the land-sea boundary offer the opportunity to document how stimuli
can be used to complete complex behaviors across transitional ecosystems.
We determined that California moray eels (Gymnothorax mordax) can use
chemical stimuli (odor and taste) to locate prey across intertidal
boundaries on Santa Catalina Island. We tested moray responses to chemical
stimuli from four prey types during high and low tidal conditions, the
latter requiring emergence from the water to navigate the land-sea
interface. Gymnothorax mordax can navigate to a prey source using only
chemical stimuli, both when fully submerged underwater and when emerged in
the intertidal. Morays showed greater discernment between prey types when
exposed in the intertidal. In the intertidal eels rubbed their faces on
the substrate, suggesting multimodality in using odor for detection and
taste to further assist in prey location. This research broadens our
understanding of ecosystem connectivity, illustrating how stimuli can
cross the land-sea boundary and be used to facilitate predation through a
combination of multi-sensory modalities.