The impact of long-term reduced access to cleaner fish on health indicators of resident client fish
Autor: | Alexandra S. Grutter, Zegni Triki, David Nusbaumer, Redouan Bshary, Albert F. H. Ros |
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Rok vydání: | 2020 |
Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Physiology Coral reef fish Pomacentrus amboinensis Aquatic Science Cleaner fish 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences 03 medical and health sciences Animals Humans Australia Fishes Parasites Perciformes Symbiosis Cleaning mutualism Condition Cortisol Immunocompetence Reef fish Testosterone 14. Life underwater Labroides Damselfish Acanthochromis polyacanthus Molecular Biology Reef Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 030304 developmental biology Mutualism (biology) 0303 health sciences geography geography.geographical_feature_category biology biology.organism_classification Fishery Insect Science Animal Science and Zoology |
Zdroj: | The Journal of experimental biology, vol. 223, no. Pt 24, pp. jeb231613 |
ISSN: | 1477-9145 |
Popis: | In many mutualisms, benefits in the form of food are exchanged for services such as transport or protection. In the marine cleaning mutualism, a variety of “client” reef fishes offer “cleaner” fish Labroides dimidiatus access to food in the form of their ectoparasites, where parasite removal supposedly protects the clients. Yet, the health benefits individual clients obtain on the long-term from repeated ectoparasite removal remain relatively unknown. Here, we tested whether long-term reduced access to cleaning services alter indicators of health status such as body condition, immunity and the steroids cortisol and testosterone in four client damselfish species Pomacentrus amboinensis, Amblyglyphidodon curacao, Acanthochromis polyacanthus, and Dischistodus perspicillatus. To do so, we took advantage of a long-term experimental project in which several small reefs around Lizard Island (Great Barrier Reef, Australia) were maintained cleaner-free since the year 2000; while control reefs had their cleaner presence continuously monitored. We found that the four damselfish species from reef sites without cleaners for 13 years had lower body condition than fish from reefs with cleaners. However, immunity measurements and cortisol and testosterone levels did not differ between experimental groups. Our findings suggest that clients use the energetic benefits derived from long-term access to cleaning services to selectively increase body condition, rather than altering hormonal or immune system functions. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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