Interactions between gnathiid isopods, cleaner fish and other fishes on Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef

Grutter, Alexandra S.

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2008.02073.x

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…The number of intertidal gnathiids collected from C. superciliosus at this site was much smaller than those typically collected from coral reef habitats (Grutter & Poulin, 1998b;Grutter, 1999Grutter, , 2008Welicky et al, 2013;Sikkel et al, 2017). There are at least three possible explanations for this difference.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Diurnal activity patterns of the temporary fish ectoparasite,Gnathia africanaBarnard, 1914 (Isopoda, Gnathiidae), from the southern coast of South Africa

2017

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Gnathiid isopods are one of the most common fish ectoparasites, and are found in both temperate and tropical oceans. On coral reefs, gnathiids are most active at dusk and dawn, and contribute significantly to trophic dynamics, as they are a prey resource for cleaner fish and parasitize numerous fishes. Gnathiids also inhabit temperate intertidal waters, but their activity patterns and contribution to intertidal trophic dynamics remain unstudied. To provide the first ecological data on temperate intertidal gnathiid activity patterns, 172 gnathiid-free Clinus superciliosus were set in an intertidal system in Tsitsikamma National Park, South Africa, during early morning, morning, afternoon, early evening, and evening, high and low tide, and within the inter-and infra-tidal zone to examine gnathiid infestation levels. After exposure, gnathiids from each fish were identified to the species level, counted, and their developmental stage was recorded. All gnathiids were identified as Gnathiia africana. On average, 1 + 5SD gnathiids were collected from each fish, and the majority of gnathiids collected were stage 1. Significantly more gnathiids were collected during morning and afternoon compared with all other time periods. The number of gnathiids collected was not influenced by the fish's exposure to high or low tide, or placement within the tide zone. Although G. africana is free from cleaner fish predation because cleaner fish do not reside in temperate intertidal habitat, G. africana abundance is surprisingly small. Future studies should examine what regulates G. africana population size and the role they play in temperate intertidal food webs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Diurnal activity patterns of the temporary fish ectoparasite,Gnathia africanaBarnard, 1914 (Isopoda, Gnathiidae), from the southern coast of South Africa

2017

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“…Ectoparasites compromise the fitness of their hosts via several mechanisms. They inflict not only direct costs via skin damage and blood consumption but also indirect costs via increasing the chance to secondary infections with opportunistic pathogens Grutter, 2005, 2008;Grutter, 2008), and thereby the need to activate inflammatory responses, which are energetically costly (Sheldon and Verhulst, 1996;Watts et al, 2001;Alcorn et al, 2003;Demas, 2004). Furthermore, experimental infection with ectoparasites has been shown to increase the corticosteroid stress response of salmonids (Ruane et al, 1999(Ruane et al, , 2000Wagner et al, 2008).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In reef fish gnathiid isopods have been shown to cause skin damage, reduced blood volume, reduced growth, and sometimes even death Grutter, 2005, 2008;Grutter, 2008, but see Grutter and Pankhurst, 2000). It is thus expected that ectoparasite removal would be beneficial for reef fish.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Does access to the bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus affect indicators of stress and health in resident reef fishes in the Red Sea?

Ros¹,

Lusa²,

Meyer³

et al. 2011

Hormones and Behavior

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Interactions between the bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus and its client reef fish are a textbook example of interspecific mutualism. The fact that clients actively visit cleaners and invite inspection, together with evidence that cleaners eat many client ectoparasites per day, indeed strongly suggests a mutualistic relationship. What remains unknown is how parasite removal affects the physiology of clients and thereby their body condition, health, and immune function. Here we addressed these issues in a field study in Ras Mohammed National Park, Egypt. In our study area, small reef patches are inter-spaced with areas of sandy substrate, thereby preventing many species (i.e., residents, including cleaner wrasses) from travelling between the reef patches. This habitat structure leads to a mosaic of resident clients with and without access to bluestreak cleaner wrasses, further referred to as "cleaner access", on which we focused our study. We found that residents with cleaner access had higher body condition than residents without cleaner access. However, indicators of stress like variation in cortisol levels corrected for handling time and various immune parameters were apparently unaffected by cleaner access. In fact antibody responses were significantly higher in fishes without cleaner access. This suggests that cleaner access decreases the need for active immunity and that this releases resources that might be allocated to other functions such as somatic growth and reproduction.

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“…What is already known about gnathiids on adult fishes (i.e. prevalence, and feeding ecology) (Grutter 1995a(Grutter ,1996a(Grutter ,2003Grutter 2008) suggests that they may also significantly affect young reef fish.…”

Section: Ecological Importance Of Parasitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High numbers of gnathiids can cause anaemia (Paperna 1977;Grutter 2008) and mortality in adult fish (Mugridge and Stallybrass 1983;Marino et al 2004). …”

Section: Chapter 5: Diel Patterns Of Infection By Gnathiid Isopods Onmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasites and cleaning behaviour in damselfishes

Sun¹

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Pomacentrids (damselfishes) are one of the most common and diverse group of marine fishes found on coral reefs. However, their digenean fauna and cleaning interactions with the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, are poorly studied. This thesis explores the digenean trematode fauna in damselfishes from Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia and examines several aspects of the role of L. dimidiatus in the recruitment of young damselfishes.My first study aimed to expand our current knowledge of the digenean trematode fauna of damselfishes by examining this group of fishes from Lizard Island on the northern GBR. In a comprehensive study of the digenean trematodes of damselfishes, 358 individuals from 32 species of damselfishes were examined. I found 19 species of digeneans, 54 host/parasite combinations, 18were new host records, and three were new species (Fellodistomidae n. sp., Gyliauchenidae n. sp.and Pseudobacciger cheneyae). Combined molecular and morphological analyses show that Hysterolecitha nahaensis, the single most common trematode, comprises a complex of cryptic species rather than just one species. This work highlights the importance of using both techniques in conjunction in order to identify digenean species. The host-specificity of digeneans within this group of fishes is relatively low. Most of the species possess either euryxenic (infecting multiple related species) or stenoxenic (infecting a diverse range of hosts) specificity, with only a handful of species being convincingly oioxenic (only found in one host species). Overall, the trematode richness in pomacentrid fishes is relatively low compared with that of many other coral reef fish families. The richness is probably best explained by the small size of most pomacentrids. In terms of beta diversity, of the total 23 trematode species having now been reported for the GBR in pomacentrids, just 14 are shared between Heron and Lizard Island. Five species have been recorded only from Lizard Island and four only from Heron Island. A total of 14 species reported from the two sites can be classified as core pomacentrid-specific parasites.I then examined whether the abundance and diversity of damselfish recruits differed on reefs relative to reefs from which cleaner wrasse had been removed for 12 years. Past studies have shown that cleaner wrasse enhance abundance and diversity of adult resident damselfishes (species that are site-attached), however, it is not known whether this effect occurs at recruitment or is driven by post-settlement events such as migration or differential mortality. I characterised the abundance of damselfish recruits on reefs with and without cleaner wrasse for five days in each of three lunar cycles, beginning four days after the new moon (November, December and January). The total abundance of damselfish recruits and specifically two species, Chrysiptera rollandi and P. amboinensis, was higher on reefs with cleaner wrasse than on reefs without. However, overall iii species diversity of damself...

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Interactions between gnathiid isopods, cleaner fish and other fishes on Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef

Cited by 24 publications

References 61 publications

Diurnal activity patterns of the temporary fish ectoparasite,Gnathia africanaBarnard, 1914 (Isopoda, Gnathiidae), from the southern coast of South Africa

Diurnal activity patterns of the temporary fish ectoparasite,Gnathia africanaBarnard, 1914 (Isopoda, Gnathiidae), from the southern coast of South Africa

Does access to the bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus affect indicators of stress and health in resident reef fishes in the Red Sea?

Parasites and cleaning behaviour in damselfishes

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