Trophic Strategy
provided by Fishbase
When feeding, this species adopts a posture whereby the ventral body surface is held parallel to the rock surface, which is then approached closely to within 2 mm. While in this position, it takes a series of hard taps of the mouth on the rather plain epilithic algal mat during each feeding bout. This feeding behavior neither corresponds to grazing or browsing. Also feeds on particles floating on the water column (Ref. 13512).
Biology
provided by Fishbase
Occurs in rocky habitats. Females form small to large schools, sometimes consisting of several hundreds of fish (Ref. 6770). Feeds on both filamentous and unicellular algae (Ref. 13512).
