Comparative cleaning behaviour of Pederson's cleaner shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) between geographically close yet ecologically dissimilar coral reef habitats

Abstract

Cleaning mutualisms are important interactions on coral reefs. Intraspecific variation in cleaning rate and behaviour occurs geographically and is often attributed to local processes. However, our understanding of fine-scale variation is limited, but would allow us to control for geography and region-specific behavioural patterns. Here, we compare the cleaning activity of Pederson's cleaner shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) on two neighbouring, yet ecologically dissimilar, reef systems in Honduras: Banco Capiro, an offshore bank close to significant land runoff with high coral cover but a depleted fish population, and an oligotrophic fringing reef around the island of Utila, with lower coral cover but high fish abundance and diversity. The proportion of realized to potential fish clientele was <60% at both sites, and the composition of clientele was neither reflective of the demographics of the resident assemblages at each site nor similar between sites. Parrotfishes represented 13–15% of total fish abundance at both sites yet accounted for >50% (Banco Capiro) and 10% (Utila) of all cleans. Conversely, the schoolmaster snapper (Lutjanus apodus) represented ~1% of total fish abundance at both sites yet accounted for 40% (Utila) and 1% (Banco Capiro) of all cleans. After standardizing our cleaning rate data by clientele abundance, we find that clientele at Banco Capiro engage in over four times as many cleaning encounters per hour with A. pedersoni than at Utila. Our study highlights the variable nature of coral reef cleaning interactions and the need to better understand the ecological and environmental drivers of this biogeographic variation.

Microhabitats of sharknose goby (Elacatinus evelynae) cleaning stations and their links with cleaning behaviour

“…Through their large number of interactions with a diversity of client species, cleaning interactions can also drive patterns of fish diversity themselves (Bronstein 2015), playing an important role in the ecological community structure (Floeter et al 2007;Quimbayo et al 2018)-changes in the dynamics of cleaning interactions could thus hold strong consequences for the associated reef fish community. It is important to note however, that like all mutualisms, cleaning interactions are highly context dependent: interaction outcomes vary temporally (Cote and Molloy 2003;Sikkel et al 2004Sikkel et al , 2005Dunkley et al 2019aDunkley et al , b, 2020 and spatially (Côté 2000;Sikkel et al 2000;Dunkley et al 2020;Romain et al 2020). Whilst we show that microhabitat traits play a role in governing local interaction patterns, a host of additional interlinked contextual factors can influence interaction outcomes (e.g.…”

Stable isotopes disentangle niche partitioning and species co-occurrence in a multi-level marine mutualism

“…pedersoni is known to remove parasites from over 40 species and 20 families of reef fishes that encompass a wide range of herbivorous and predatory clients (e.g. Titus et al 2015a, Romain et al 2020). Thus, the diversity and trophic levels of the client community that visits An.…”

“…The ecology and behavior of An. pedersoni has been studied extensively both in St. Thomas and elsewhere, and it is considered a dedicated cleaner shrimp (Huebner et al 2012a, 2012b, Titus et al 2017a, 2019, Caves et al 2018, Romain et al 2020, McCloskey et al 2023), known to clean over 50 species of reef fish clients from over 23 families, and shown to be effective at reducing parasite loads for one common reef fish parasite (McCammon et al 2010, Titus et al 2015a, 2015b 2019, Romain et al 2020). We expect dedicated cleaners to occupy higher-level consumer trophic levels in stable isotope analyses, although it remains unknown whether An.…”