Activity budgets and space use for two common Pacific parrotfish (Chlorurus Sp.) at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

Data was collected at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge located in the Central Pacific in 2014, and the work focuses on two species of Parrotfish, Chlorurus microrhinos and Chlorurus spilurus (formerly Cholrurus sordidus). For C. microrhinos, the project was designed to collect fine-scale spatial behavior data, focusing on territory size, species interactions, and benthic impact (i.e. feeding behavior). Focal follow data was collected by one or two observer(s), either on snorkel or SCUBA, and recording focal activity down to the second. Simultaneously, the observer would be towing a GPS that was recording a location every 5 seconds and each location was then associated with a particular behavior. Throughout this study individual fish were identifiable and successive follows were possible on individuals. For C. spilurus the focus of the project was to collect behavioral time budget data on feeding, territorial defense, and spawning behavior. The ‘Chlorurus_Area_Palmyra_2014.csv’ data only covers C. Microrhinos and gives the 95% KUD area estimation for GPS towed tracks, as well as the 95% KUD area for locations where feeding was occurring. We also report the step length between successive points for the entire follow as well as where feeding was occurring. The ‘Chlorurus_Activity_Palmyra_2014.csv’ is for both C. Microrhinos and C. spilurus and reports the start and stop time of each focal follow as well as the start and stop time of each activity. Activity descriptions can be found in the metadata and the total length and phase for each individual in our study can be found in ‘Fish_Information_Chlorurus_Data_2014.csv.