Herbivorous fish can increase coral growth and survival by grazing down algal competitors. With coral reefs in global decline, maintaining adequate herbivory has become a primary goal for many managers. However, herbivore biomass targets assume grazing behavior is consistent across different reef systems, even though relatively few have been studied. We document grazing behavior of two scarid species in Antigua, Barbuda, and Bonaire. Our analyses show significant differences in intraspecific feeding rates, time spent grazing, and intensity of grazing across sites, which may alter the ecological impact of a given scarid population. We suggest several hypothesized mechanisms for these behavioral variations that would benefit from explicit testing in future research. As managers set targets to enhance herbivory on reefs, it is critical that we understand potential differences in scarid grazing impact. Our findings demonstrate the variability of grazing behavior across different reef sites and call for further investigation of the drivers and ecological implications of these inconsistencies.

草食性鱼类可以通过放牧藻类竞争者来增加珊瑚的生长和生存。随着珊瑚礁在全球范围内的衰退，保持足够的草食性已成为许多管理者的主要目标。但是，草食动物的生物量目标假设放牧行为在不同的礁石系统中是一致的，尽管已经进行了相对较少的研究。我们记录了安提瓜，巴布达和博内尔岛两个恐吓物种的放牧行为。我们的分析表明，种内摄食率，放牧时间和跨地点放牧强度存在显着差异，这可能会改变特定吓scar种群的生态影响。我们建议这些行为变化的几种假设机制，这些机制将受益于未来研究中的显式测试。当管理者设定目标以增强礁石上的食草性时，至关重要的是，我们必须了解恐慌性放牧影响的潜在差异。我们的发现证明了不同礁石场所放牧行为的差异性，并呼吁对这些不一致的动因和生态影响进行进一步调查。