The Behavior of the Scrawled Filefish (Alutera scripta) on an Offshore Production Platform in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Preliminary field studies on the behavior of the scrawled filefish (Alutera scripta) were conducted in multiple excursions to The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary aboard Mobil Oil's Gas Production Platform H.I. A389-A in the Gulf of Mexico. This research was conducted by joint research teams from the Florida State University, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Texas A and M University Corpus Christy during the spring of 1995 and the spring of 1996. The objectives of these excursions were to construct an initial ethogram and time budget for A. scripta.