[Coral-List] predation on Coralliophila

[Les Kaufman]

Hi Charles, all.

Coralliophila can be fed upon by spiny lobsters, and perhaps also by  
the usual litany of other once-common and once-large Caribbean  
durophages: queen trigger, hogfish, Spanish hogfish, puddingwife,  
yellow-head wrasse on juvenile snails perhaps, diodontids (though  
they mostly seem after hermit crabs, odd taste), possibly porgies,  
black margate, permit, and likely some larger crabs.   If indeed  
Coralliophila is predator-limited, the problem is that its potential  
predators have been overfished severely through most of the tropical  
west Atlantic.  Alina Szmant has expressed interesting ideas about this.

Les