Cleaner-client interactions on a Caribbean reef: influence of correlates of parasitism

Arnal, C.; Côté, Isabelle M.; Sasal, Pierre; Morand, Sergé

doi:10.1007/s002650050676

Cited by 47 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Because removal of gnathiids should be most beneficial soon after they infest fish, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that diel variation in cleaner-seeking activity corresponds to diel variation in the benefits of being cleaned. While monogeneans and copepods also parasitize yellowtail damselfish at our study site and may exhibit different diel patterns of infestation, these parasites are comparatively rare (Arnal et al 2000, Sikkel et al 2000, and they are rarely (copepods) or never (monogeneans) found in guts of cleaner gobies (Arnal & Côté 2000, Whiteman & Côté 2002.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Gnathiid isopods are generalist parasites, but they are only parasitic as larvae and are the most common food item of cleaner fishes in both Caribbean and tropical IndoPacific reefs (Grutter 1996a, Arnal & Côté 2000. These highly mobile ectoparasites emerge from the substratum throughout the day and night to find a host and, when engorged on blood and body fluids, return to the substratum to moult into the next larval stage (Smit et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Compensatory cleaner-seeking behavior following spawning in female yellowtail damselfish

Sikkel

Herzlieb²,

Kramer³

2005

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Marine reef fishes may spend a significant proportion of their daily activity budgets visiting cleaning stations. Nevertheless, the roles of ectoparasites and of interactions with cleaners in shaping patterns of diel activity in these fishes have been largely ignored, possibly because the importance of cleaning for the hosts remains controversial. In diurnal species, a peak in ectoparasite infestation exists at dawn, suggesting that higher rates of cleaner-seeking during this time should be beneficial to hosts. In this study, we quantified the diel pattern of visitations to cleaners, as well as other major activities, in female yellowtail damselfish Microspathodon chrysurus on a Barbadian fringing reef. Females of this species leave their territories near dawn at 3 d intervals to spawn on male territories. On non-spawning days, cleaning peaked at dawn, when fish spent > 20% of their time with cleaners, and declined thereafter, averaging over 11% of the time budget during the entire day. Supplemental observations in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also revealed dawn peaks in cleaner-seeking activity. Feeding and territory defense together occupied less than 3% of the time budget at dawn, and never seemed frequent enough to interfere with cleaning. On spawning days, 30% of females visited cleaners at male nests or while traveling back to their territories, and 24% visited cleaners on their own territories during revisitation trips before spawning was completed; nevertheless, they spent < 1 ⁄ 3 as much time with cleaners as did non-spawning females. Reduced cleanerseeking indicates that spawning competes with cleaner visitation in damselfish time budgets, producing a tradeoff between cleaning and reproduction. In the 30 min after spawning, females significantly increased their rate of interaction with cleaners, compared with the same time on nonspawning days, and regained about 68% of the missed time with cleaners; feeding and aggression did not differ between spawning and non-spawning females. Compensatory postspawning visiting of cleaners supports the hypothesis that cleaning at dawn is important, probably because of negative consequences of the dawn peak in parasite loads.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compensatory cleaner-seeking behavior following spawning in female yellowtail damselfish

Sikkel

Herzlieb²,

Kramer³

2005

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Each piscivore treatment included several Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), which were the largest fishes on these reefs. Because parasite load is correlated with host fish size (Arnal et al 2000), juvenile T. bifasciatum might have had access to a greater food supply on reefs with piscivores, which may have increased their survival. In addition, mortality from predation is often greatly reduced for cleaners (Poulin and Vickery 1995), and Carr and Hixon (1995) found that resident piscivores did not negatively affect the survival of transplanted, recently settled T. bifasciatum.…”

Section: Why Did Effects Of Resident Piscivores and Damselfishes Diffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priority Effects in Coral Reef Fish Communities

Almany

2003

Ecology

131

117

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Abstract. Demographically open communities are often viewed as stochastically structured assemblages because most colonizing juveniles arrive via unpredictable dispersal mechanisms. However, interactions between established residents and incoming juveniles may affect juvenile persistence in species-specific ways and could therefore impose a degree of determinism on future community structure.Using 16 spatially isolated communities of coral reef fishes, I conducted two experiments to determine how prior residency by two guilds of fishes affected juvenile recruitment. Each experiment factorially manipulated the presence and absence of two guilds: resident piscivores (groupers and moray eels) and interference competitors (territorial damselfishes). In the first experiment, guilds were manipulated via selective removals, and subsequent recruitment (larval settlement minus mortality) was monitored for 44 days. In the second experiment, guilds were placed within large cages to prevent direct resident-juvenile interactions, while allowing for any cues produced by enclosed fishes, thereby testing whether incoming larvae used resident-derived cues to select or reject settlement sites. Colonizing juveniles were collected from each reef over 42 days to prevent confounding resident-and recruit-derived cues.In the first experiment, piscivores inhibited recruitment of a damselfish (Pomacentridae) and a surgeonfish (Acanthuridae), and enhanced recruitment of a wrasse (Labridae). In contrast, territorial damselfishes inhibited recruitment of the damselfish and the wrasse, and enhanced recruitment of the surgeonfish. Observations of early recruitment patterns suggested that recruitment differences were established rapidly during the night or dawn periods shortly after settlement and before each daily census. In the second experiment, there was no evidence that larvae used resident-derived cues to select settlement sites, suggesting that recruitment differences in the first experiment resulted from differential mortality caused by direct resident-recruit interactions rather than differential larval settlement.These results demonstrate that interactions between established residents and newly arrived juveniles can have a strong influence on juvenile persistence, and that such interactions appear to be strongest within hours of larval settlement. Furthermore, because resident effects were species specific, the present composition of these communities may impose a previously undocumented degree of determinism on their future structure.

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“…Of all organisms exhibiting cleaning behavior, cleaner fish have been studied most extensively (e.g., Johnson and Ruben 1988;Grutter 1999a;Arnal et al , 2001Bshary 2001;Bshary and Wurth 2001;Grutter 2001;Whiteman and Côté 2002;Côté and Molloy 2003;Grutter 2004;Sikkel et al 2004;Soares et al 2007;Bshary et al 2008;Côté and Soares 2011;Soares et al 2011;Gingins et al 2013Gingins and Bshary 2015). On Caribbean coral reefs, the most common cleaner fish are gobies of the genus Elacatinus; these are obligate cleaners of other species of fish (Sikkel et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On Caribbean coral reefs, the most common cleaner fish are gobies of the genus Elacatinus; these are obligate cleaners of other species of fish (Sikkel et al 2004). These gobies occupy discreet microhabitats (e.g., coral heads and sponges) that serve as cleaning stations and provide daily cleaning services to dozens of species (Johnson and Ruben 1988;Arnal et al , 2001Whiteman and Côté 2002;Côté and Molloy 2003;Soares et al 2007;Côté and Soares 2011). The primary ectoparasite targets of these gobies are gnathiid isopod crustaceans that temporarily attach to client fish Arnal et al 2001;Soares et al 2008aSoares et al , 2010.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal patterns of Pederson shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni Chace 1958) cleaning interactions on Caribbean coral reefs

2015

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are most active at dawn. These data suggest that the services provided by cleaner shrimp and cleaner gobies, rather than client identity, independently structure these interactions and drive the discordance in usage patterns between cleaner type. We propose two non-exclusive hypotheses to explain the differences in the temporal patterns of activity between cleaner gobies and A. pedersoni: (1) the proximate causes driving fish visitation rate (e.g., parasite removal or tactile stimulation) to goby and shrimp stations differ, and (2) each cleaner type targets different ectoparasites that differ temporally in their diel infestation rate on reef fish. Our study provides an important rationale for pursuing these questions and broadens our understanding of cleaning services on Caribbean coral reefs.

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Cleaner-client interactions on a Caribbean reef: influence of correlates of parasitism

Cited by 47 publications

References 36 publications

Compensatory cleaner-seeking behavior following spawning in female yellowtail damselfish

Compensatory cleaner-seeking behavior following spawning in female yellowtail damselfish

Priority Effects in Coral Reef Fish Communities

Temporal patterns of Pederson shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni Chace 1958) cleaning interactions on Caribbean coral reefs

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