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Projects - D (Davide) Bottacini MSc BSc

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  I love everything about fishes: their biology, ecology, behaviour and diversity. In my project, I combine all these aspects by studying lionfish (Pterois miles), one of the most fascinating and effective predators on our planet. Apart from being exceptional predators, lionfish have become well-known for being highly invasive: native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean and the Red Sea, they colonised the western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean and they are now also invading the Mediterranean Sea.

  In my project, I study lionfish invasion and predation ecology across ecological levels, spanning from the effects that invasive lionfish are having on the Mediterranean fish community to how they deal with individual prey while they are hunting.

  I am part of the Behavioural Ecology chair group, where I work under the supervision of Marc Naguib and Alexander Kotrschal. The different angles from which I look at lionfish ecology give me the chance to collaborate closely with other inspiring scientists based at other chair groups at Wageningen university: Bart Pollux (Experimental Zoology), Reindert Nijland (Marine Animal Ecology) and Patrick Jansen (Wildlife Ecology and Conservation).

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  Between two oceans: lionfish cognition and environmental change

  Lionfish (Pterois spp.) are charismatic reef fish, often the highlight of a recreational dive, but there is a face to them that is not commonly known....