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Narvaez P, Morais RA, Vaughan DB, Grutter AS, Hutson KS. Cleaner fish are potential super-spreaders. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:276034. [PMID: 35855672 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.244469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Cleaning symbiosis is critical for maintaining healthy biological communities in tropical marine ecosystems. However, potential negative impacts of mutualism, such as the transmission of pathogens and parasites during cleaning interactions, have rarely been evaluated. Here, we investigated whether the dedicated bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus, is susceptible to, and can transmit generalist ectoparasites between client fish. In laboratory experiments, L. dimidiatus were exposed to infective stages of three generalist ectoparasite species with contrasting life-histories. Labroides dimidiatus were susceptible to infection by the gnathiid isopod, Gnathia aureamaculosa, but significantly less susceptible to the ciliate protozoan, Cryptocaryon irritans, and the monogenean flatworm, Neobenedenia girellae, compared to control host species (Coris batuensis or Lates calcarifer). The potential for parasite transmission from a client fish to the cleaner fish was simulated using experimentally transplanted mobile adult (i.e., egg-producing) monogenean flatworms on L. dimidiatus. Parasites remained attached to cleaners for an average of two days, during which parasite egg production continued, but was reduced compared to control fish. Over this timespan, a wild cleaner may engage in several thousand cleaning interactions, providing numerous opportunities for mobile parasites to exploit cleaners as vectors. Our study provides the first experimental evidence that L. dimidiatus exhibits resistance to infective stages of some parasites yet has the potential to temporarily transport adult parasites. We propose that some parasites that evade being eaten by cleaner fish could exploit cleaning interactions as a mechanism for transmission and spread.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pauline Narvaez
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, 1 James Cook Drive, 5 Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.,College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.,Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, James Cook University, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia
| | - Renato A Morais
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, 1 James Cook Drive, 5 Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.,College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia
| | - David B Vaughan
- School of Access Education, Central Queensland University, 554-700 Yaamba Road, Rockhampton, Queensland 4701, Australia.,Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre, Central Queensland University, 554-700 Yaamba Road, Rockhampton, Queensland 4701, Australia
| | - Alexandra S Grutter
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Kate S Hutson
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.,Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, James Cook University, 1 James Cook Drive, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia.,Cawthron Institute, 98 Halifax Street East, Nelson 7010, New Zealand
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2
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Paula JR, Repolho T, Grutter AS, Rosa R. Access to Cleaning Services Alters Fish Physiology Under Parasite Infection and Ocean Acidification. Front Physiol 2022; 13:859556. [PMID: 35755439 PMCID: PMC9213755 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.859556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Cleaning symbioses are key mutualistic interactions where cleaners remove ectoparasites and tissues from client fishes. Such interactions elicit beneficial effects on clients’ ecophysiology, with cascading effects on fish diversity and abundance. Ocean acidification (OA), resulting from increasing CO2 concentrations, can affect the behavior of cleaner fishes making them less motivated to inspect their clients. This is especially important as gnathiid fish ectoparasites are tolerant to ocean acidification. Here, we investigated how access to cleaning services, performed by the cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus, affect individual client’s (damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis) aerobic metabolism in response to both experimental parasite infection and OA. Access to cleaning services was modulated using a long-term removal experiment where cleaner wrasses were consistently removed from patch reefs around Lizard Island (Australia) for 17 years or left undisturbed. Only damselfish with access to cleaning stations had a negative metabolic response to parasite infection (maximum metabolic rate—ṀO2Max; and both factorial and absolute aerobic scope). Moreover, after an acclimation period of 10 days to high CO2 (∼1,000 µatm CO2), the fish showed a decrease in factorial aerobic scope, being the lowest in fish without the access to cleaners. We propose that stronger positive selection for parasite tolerance might be present in reef fishes without the access to cleaners, but this might come at a cost, as readiness to deal with parasites can impact their response to other stressors, such as OA.
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Affiliation(s)
- José Ricardo Paula
- Swire Institute of Marine Science, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.,MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Laboratório Marítimo da Guia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Cascais, Portugal
| | - Tiago Repolho
- MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Laboratório Marítimo da Guia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Cascais, Portugal
| | - Alexandra S Grutter
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia
| | - Rui Rosa
- MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Laboratório Marítimo da Guia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Cascais, Portugal
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3
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Caves EM. The behavioural ecology of marine cleaning mutualisms. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 96:2584-2601. [PMID: 34165230 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Revised: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Cleaning interactions, in which a small 'cleaner' organism removes and often consumes material from a larger 'client', are some of the most enigmatic and intriguing of interspecies interactions. Early research on cleaning interactions canonized the view that they are mutualistic, with clients benefiting from parasite removal and cleaners benefiting from a meal, but subsequent decades of research have revealed that the dynamics of these interactions can be highly complex. Despite decades of research on marine cleaning interactions (the best studied cleaning systems), key questions remain, including how the outcome of an individual cleaning interaction depends on ecological, behavioural, and social context, how such interactions arise, and how they remain stable over time. Recently, studies of marine parasites, long-term data from coral reef communities with and without cleaners, increased behavioural observations recorded using remote video, and a focus on a larger numbers of cleaning species have helped bring about key conceptual advances in our understanding of cleaning interactions. In particular, evidence now suggests that the ecological, behavioural, and social contexts of a given cleaning interaction can result in the outcome ranging from mutualistic to parasitic, and that cleaning interactions are mediated by signals that can also vary with context. Signals are an important means by which animals extract information about one another, and thus represent a mechanism by which interspecific partners can determine when, how, and with whom to interact. Here, I review our understanding of the behavioural ecology of marine cleaning interactions. In particular, I argue that signals provide a useful framework for advancing our understanding of several important outstanding questions. I discuss the costs and benefits of cleaning interactions, review how cleaners and clients recognize and assess one another using signals, and discuss how signal reliability, or 'honesty', may be maintained in cleaning systems. Lastly, I discuss the sensory ecology of both cleaners and clients to highlight what marine cleaning systems can tell us about signalling behaviour, signal form, and signal evolution in a system where signals are aimed at multiple receiver species. Overall, I argue that future research on cleaning interactions has much to gain by continuing to shift the research focus toward examining the variable outcomes of cleaning interactions in relation to the broader behavioural, social, and ecological contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor M Caves
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, U.K
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4
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Bradley M, Nagelkerken I, Baker R, Sheaves M. Context Dependence: A Conceptual Approach for Understanding the Habitat Relationships of Coastal Marine Fauna. Bioscience 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaa100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Coastal habitats, such as seagrasses, mangroves, rocky and coral reefs, salt marshes, and kelp forests, sustain many key fish and invertebrate populations around the globe. Our understanding of how animals use these broadly defined habitat types is typically derived from a few well-studied regions and is often extrapolated to similar habitats elsewhere. As a result, a working understanding of their habitat importance is often based on information derived from other regions and environmental contexts. Contexts such as tidal range, rainfall, and local geomorphology may fundamentally alter animal–habitat relationships, and there is growing evidence that broadly defined habitat types such as “mangroves” or “salt marsh” may show predictable spatial and temporal variation in habitat function in relation to these environmental drivers. In the present article, we develop a framework for systematically examining contextual predictability to define the geographic transferability of animal–habitat relationships, to guide ongoing research, conservation, and management actions in these systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Bradley
- Marine Data Technology Hub, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
| | - Ivan Nagelkerken
- Southern Seas Ecology Laboratories, within the School of Biological Sciences and The Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Ronald Baker
- Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, and senior marine scientist, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, Alabama
| | - Marcus Sheaves
- College of Science and Engineering and leads the Marine Data Technology Hub, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
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5
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Changes in local free-living parasite populations in response to cleaner manipulation over 12 years. Oecologia 2019; 190:783-797. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-019-04451-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2018] [Accepted: 06/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
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6
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Xavier R, Mazzei R, Pérez-Losada M, Rosado D, Santos JL, Veríssimo A, Soares MC. A Risky Business? Habitat and Social Behavior Impact Skin and Gut Microbiomes in Caribbean Cleaning Gobies. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:716. [PMID: 31024495 PMCID: PMC6467100 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2018] [Accepted: 03/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The broadstripe cleaning goby Elacatinus prochilos has two alternative ecotypes: sponge-dwellers, which live in large groups and feed mainly upon nematode parasites; and coral-dwellers, that live in small groups or in solitude and behave as cleaners. Recent studies focusing on the skin and gut microbiomes of tropical fish showed that microbial communities are influenced mainly by diet and host species. Here, we compare the skin and gut microbiomes of the Caribbean broadstripe cleaning goby E. prochilos alternative ecotypes (cleaners and non-cleaners) from Barbados and predict that different habitat use and behavior (cleaning vs. non-cleaning) will translate in different bacterial profiles between the two ecotypes. We found significant differences in both alpha- and beta-diversity of skin and gut microbiomes belonging to different ecotypes. Importantly, the skin microbiome of obligate cleaners showed greater intra-sample diversity and harbored a significantly higher prevalence of potential fish pathogens. Likewise, potential pathogens were also more prevalent in the gut of obligate cleaners. We suggest that habitat use, diet, but also direct contact with potential diseased clientele during cleaning, could be the cause for these patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raquel Xavier
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Renata Mazzei
- Laboratoire d’Eco-Ethologie, Institut de Biologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Marcos Pérez-Losada
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Computational Biology Institute, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Ashburn, VA, United States
| | - Daniela Rosado
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Joana L. Santos
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana Veríssimo
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Marta C. Soares
- CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
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7
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Titus BM, Daly M, Vondriska C, Hamilton I, Exton DA. Lack of strategic service provisioning by Pederson's cleaner shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) highlights independent evolution of cleaning behaviors between ocean basins. Sci Rep 2019; 9:629. [PMID: 30679712 PMCID: PMC6345747 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37418-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2018] [Accepted: 12/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Marine cleaning interactions have been useful model systems for exploring evolutionary game theory and explaining the stability of mutualism. In the Indo-Pacific, cleaner organisms will occasionally "cheat" and remove live tissue, clients use partner control mechanisms to maintain cleaner honesty, and cleaners strategically increase service quality for predatory clients that can "punish" more severely. The extent to which reef communities in the Caribbean have evolved similar strategies for maintaining the stability of these symbioses is less clear. Here we study the strategic service provisioning in Pederson's cleaner shrimp (Ancylomenes pedersoni) on Caribbean coral reefs. In the Gulf of Honduras, we use video observations to analyze >1000 cleaning interactions and record >850 incidents of cheating. We demonstrate that A. pedersoni cheat frequently and do not vary their service quality based on client trophic position or cleaner shrimp group size. As a direct analog to the cleaner shrimp A. longicarpus in the Indo-Pacific, our study highlights that although cleaning interactions in both ocean basins are ecologically analogous and result in parasite removal, the strategic behaviors that mediate these interactions have evolved independently in cleaner shrimps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin M Titus
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, USA. .,Operation Wallacea, Wallace House, Old Bolingbroke, Spilsby, Lincolnshire, PE23 4EX, UK. .,Division of Invertebrate Zoology, The American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 10024, USA.
| | - Marymegan Daly
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, USA
| | - Clayton Vondriska
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, USA.,Operation Wallacea, Wallace House, Old Bolingbroke, Spilsby, Lincolnshire, PE23 4EX, UK.,Department of Biological Sciences, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, 74267, USA
| | - Ian Hamilton
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, USA
| | - Dan A Exton
- Operation Wallacea, Wallace House, Old Bolingbroke, Spilsby, Lincolnshire, PE23 4EX, UK
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8
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Binning SA, Roche DG, Grutter AS, Colosio S, Sun D, Miest J, Bshary R. Cleaner wrasse indirectly affect the cognitive performance of a damselfish through ectoparasite removal. Proc Biol Sci 2019. [PMID: 29514969 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Cleaning organisms play a fundamental ecological role by removing ectoparasites and infected tissue from client surfaces. We used the well-studied cleaning mutualisms involving the cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, to test how client cognition is affected by ectoparasites and whether these effects are mitigated by cleaners. Ambon damselfish (Pomacentrus amboinensis) collected from experimental reef patches without cleaner wrasse performed worse in a visual discrimination test than conspecifics from patches with cleaners. Endoparasite abundance also negatively influenced success in this test. Visual discrimination performance was also impaired in damselfish experimentally infected with gnathiid (Crustacea: Isopoda) ectoparasites. Neither cleaner absence nor gnathiid infection affected performance in spatial recognition or reversal learning tests. Injection with immune-stimulating lipopolysaccharide did not affect visual discrimination performance relative to saline-injected controls, suggesting that cognitive impairments are not due to an innate immune response. Our results highlight the complex, indirect role of cleaning organisms in promoting the health of their clients via ectoparasite removal and emphasize the negative impact of parasites on host's cognitive abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra A Binning
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland .,School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St-Lucia, Australia.,Département de sciences biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Dominique G Roche
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.,School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St-Lucia, Australia
| | - Alexandra S Grutter
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St-Lucia, Australia
| | - Simona Colosio
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Derek Sun
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St-Lucia, Australia
| | - Joanna Miest
- Department of Life and Sports Sciences, University of Greenwich, Kent, UK
| | - Redouan Bshary
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
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Brooker RM, Feeney WE, White JR, Manassa RP, Johansen JL, Dixson DL. Using insights from animal behaviour and behavioural ecology to inform marine conservation initiatives. Anim Behav 2016; 120:211-221. [PMID: 29104297 PMCID: PMC5665575 DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The impacts of human activities on the natural world are becoming increasingly apparent, with rapid development and exploitation occurring at the expense of habitat quality and biodiversity. Declines are especially concerning in the oceans, which hold intrinsic value due to their biological uniqueness as well as their substantial sociological and economic importance. Here, we review the literature and investigate whether incorporation of knowledge from the fields of animal behaviour and behavioural ecology may improve the effectiveness of conservation initiatives in marine systems. In particular, we consider (1) how knowledge of larval behaviour and ecology may be used to inform the design of marine protected areas, (2) how protecting species that hold specific ecological niches may be of particular importance for maximizing the preservation of biodiversity, (3) how current harvesting techniques may be inadvertently skewing the behavioural phenotypes of stock populations and whether changes to current practices may lessen this skew and reinforce population persistence, and (4) how understanding the behavioural and physiological responses of species to a changing environment may provide essential insights into areas of particular vulnerability for prioritized conservation attention. The complex nature of conservation programmes inherently results in interdisciplinary responses, and the incorporation of knowledge from the fields of animal behaviour and behavioural ecology may increase our ability to stem the loss of biodiversity in marine environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rohan M. Brooker
- School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE, U.S.A
| | - William E. Feeney
- School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE, U.S.A
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K
| | - James R. White
- College of Tropical and Marine Science, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
| | - Rachel P. Manassa
- Water Studies Centre, School of Chemistry, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Jacob L. Johansen
- Marine Science Institute, University of Texas, Port Aransas, TX, U.S.A
| | - Danielle L. Dixson
- School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE, U.S.A
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10
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Ectoparasitism on deep-sea fishes in the western North Atlantic: In situ observations from ROV surveys. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY-PARASITES AND WILDLIFE 2016; 5:217-28. [PMID: 27508117 PMCID: PMC4971233 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2016.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2016] [Revised: 07/15/2016] [Accepted: 07/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
A complete understanding of how parasites influence marine ecosystem functioning requires characterizing a broad range of parasite-host interactions while determining the effects of parasitism in a variety of habitats. In deep-sea fishes, the prevalence of parasitism remains poorly understood. Knowledge of ectoparasitism, in particular, is limited because collection methods often cause dislodgment of ectoparasites from their hosts. High-definition video collected during 43 remotely operated vehicle surveys (2013–2014) provided the opportunity to examine ectoparasitism on fishes across habitats (open slope, canyon, seamount, cold seep) and depths (494–4689 m) off the northeastern U.S., while providing high-resolution images and valuable observations of fish behavior. Only 9% (n = 125 individuals) of all observed fishes (25 species) were confirmed with ectoparasites, but higher percentages (∼33%) were observed for some of the most abundant fish species (e.g., Antimora rostrata). Ectoparasites included two copepod families (Lernaeopodidae, Sphyriidae) that infected four host species, two isopod families (Cymothoidae, Aegidae) that infected three host species, and one isopod family (Gnathiidae) that infected 19 host species. Hyperparasitism was also observed. As host diversity declined with depth, ectoparasite diversity declined; only gnathiids were observed at depths down to 3260 m. Thus, gnathiids appear to be the most successful group to infect a diversity of fishes across a broad depth range in the deep sea. For three dominant fishes (A. rostrata, Nezumia bairdii, Synaphobranchus spp.), the abundance and intensity of ectoparasitism peaked in different depths and habitats depending on the host species examined. Notably, gnathiid infections were most intense on A. rostrata, particularly in submarine canyons, suggesting that these habitats may increase ectoparasite infections. Although ectoparasitism is often overlooked in deep-sea benthic communities, our results demonstrate that it occurs widely across a variety of habitats, depths, and locations and is a significant component of deep-sea biodiversity. Ectoparasitism occurs across a wide range of depths, habitats, and localities. Host specificity was exhibited by 4 families of ectoparasites. Gnathiidae infected a wide diversity of fishes. Ectoparasite diversity and host specificity declined with depth. ROV surveys provide valuable observations of ectoparasitism and fish behavior.
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