Group-hunting and Multi-predator Feeding Aggregations in the Open Ocean

Multi-predator feeding aggregations (MPFAs) are temporary co-occurrences of predators simultaneously exploiting the same prey resource. The open ocean is home to the largest and most diverse MPFAs on the planet, however, our knowledge of the mechanisms and functions driving the existence of MPFAs is heavily biased towards terrestrial systems. Terrestrial MPFAs typically occur at carrion and are characterized by the fight for resource monopolisation. In contrast, in the open ocean, interactions between predators rarely involve aggression presumably because monopolisation of large fish schools or krill swarms is impossible. There has been considerable speculation regarding the interactions of predators in open ocean MPFAs which include sharks, Teleost fishes, seabirds, pinnipeds and cetaceans. Only recently have scientists begun to obtain data on attack and capture rates of predators at MPFAs which allow insights into whether their interactions are competitive, mutualistic or neutral. In this talk, I will provide an overview of within-species and between-species interactions of predators that hunt the same prey schools/swarms.