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Friday, 21st October 2005: "Juvenile Thalassoma amblycephalum Bleeker (Labridae, Teleostei) dwelling among the tentacles of sea anemones: A cleanerfish with an unusual client?"

Category : bejc

by Michael Arvedlund
JSPS Research Fellow
Tropical Biosphere Research Center
Sesoko Station University of the Ryukyus
Okinawa, Japan

Friday, 21st October 2005: 10.00am - 11.00am
DBS Conference Room
Blk S3, Level 5, Department of Biological Sciences
The National University of Singapore
Science Drive 4

Visitors may park at Carpark 10

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Host: Peter Todd

About the Talk
At least 51 species of fishes are facultative symbionts of sea anemones. Most of the behavioural, ecological and physiological aspects of these associations are unknown. We recorded the behaviour and the habitat use of eight assemblages of the juvenile wrasse Thalassoma amblycephalum dwelling among the tentacles of the two sea anemones Entacmaea quadricolor and Heteractis magnifica at a coral reef in southern Japan. The wrasse remained close to and was occasionally in physical contact with the host when foraging amongst the tentacles. When frightened, they took shelter among corals, away from the host anemone. The wrasse co-existed with the anemonefishes Amphiprion frenatus in E. quadricolor and A. ocellaris in H. magnifica. By using forced host contact tests ex situ and scanning electron microscopy examination of the fish epidermis, we show that juveniles of this wrasse are protected from E. quadricolor, but possibly not from H. magnifica. We suggest that juvenile T. amblycephalum dwelling among the tentacles of sea anemones are cleanerfish with an unusual client, in that they appear to clean mucus and, or, necrotic tissue from the sea anemone host. The talk will also include findings on the Japans' reef fishes, as well as research regarding olfactory receptors on reef fishes and how they might look in coral planu larvae.

About the speaker
Michael Arvedlund gained his MSc from University of Copenhagen, Denmark in1994 and his PhD from James Cook University, Queensland Australia in 2000. He has made some amazing discoveries on the behavioral ecology of anemonefishes, especially embryo imprinting to chemical cues from their hosts. Presently, he is working on a variety of projects: 1) mechanisms of settlement in reef fishes, with an emphasis on environmental cues - particularly olfaction, 2) studies of the development of olfactory receptors in reef fishes, 3) studies of olfactory receptors in coral planula larvae, 4) The ecology and behavior of anemonefishes that are facultative symbionts of host sea anemones, and 5) the ecology of tropical sea anemones. He is also the Ecology Editor of XRAY, an international internet magazine for divers and others with an interest in aquatic life and activities.

ALL ARE WELCOME!

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