Abstract

Have you heard of the word symbiosis? This is when a species of animal forms a close relationship with another species.

Take clownfish and anemones, for example. Anemones have lots of tentacles, covered in stinging cells, which they use to capture prey such as small fish. Amazingly, the clownfish is immune to the stinging cells! This means that they can live within these tentacles, using them as protection from other fish which might otherwise view the clownfish as a tasty snack. In return, the clownfish helps the anemone by bringing food and acting as a cleaner, removing parasites from the anemone’s tentacles.

Lots of animals form symbiotic relationships. Sometimes this relationship is beneficial to both animals (like with the clownfish and the anemone), this is called mutualism. However, it may be that one animal harms the other (parasitism) or it may be that neither animal benefits nor suffers (commensalism). This investigation wanted to find out more about the symbiotic relationship between the manta ray and the smaller ‘hitchhiker’ fish which are often seen swimming very close to, or even attached to the body of, the manta ray.