Anemonefish oxygenate their anemone hosts at night

Abstract

There was an error published in J. Exp. Biol. 216,[970][971][972][973][974][975][976]. We apologise to the authors and readers for any confusion that this error may have caused.

Clownfish in hypoxic anemones replenish host O2 at only localised scales

“…Any insight into the influence of fish presence on these O 2 profiles would also of course be extremely relevant to the study conclusions of Szczebak et al . 6 and the hypotheses of the current study. In that respect, the studies of Shashar et al .…”

“…Szczebak et al . 6 also recently have added an interesting behavioural and physiological dimension to this association, showing that clownfish undertake flow-modulating (i.e. aeration-like) behaviour in anemones at night, and that physical contact raises the O 2 consumption rate of the combined pairing.…”

“…However, neither Szczebak et al . 6 , nor indeed anyone else to our knowledge, has provided measures of O 2 in and around the anemone, so it is not yet known whether the night time aeration-like behaviour of clownfish does actually oxygenate the anemone, and whether an environmental cue such as hypoxia serves to stimulate this behaviour. On that basis, it is also not yet clear whether metabolic respiratory advantages in the clownfish-anemone association are shared by both parties, and thus contribute to 2-way mutualistic benefits in this symbiosis.…”

“…Here, it is specifically hypothesized that the aeration-like (i.e. flow modulating) behaviour of clownfish 6 has the potential to reduce hyperoxia under illuminated conditions as well as hypoxia under dark conditions. 3) Finally, based on the results of 1 and 2 above, intermittent flow respirometry was used to establish whether A. frenatus can physiologically tolerate the O 2 levels observed among the tentacles of sea anemones.…”

“…This will allow us to ascertain whether the aeration-like (i.e. flow modulating) behaviour of clownfish 6 is potentially activated in response to low O 2 intolerance and/or whether clownfish are likely to benefit metabolically from their aeration-like behaviour. Nilsson and Östlund-Nilsson 10 also provide evidence of widespread hypoxia tolerance in tropical reef fish, but the critical O 2 limit of clownfish was not examined in their study nor do these fish necessarily associate with the sources of hypoxia suggested by these authors (i.e.…”