Meeting Abstract

5.6  Sunday, Jan. 4  Colorful stripes send mixed signals from cleaner gobies to risky reef fish clients LETTIERI, Liliana*; STREELMAN, J. Todd; Georgia Institute of Technology liliana@gatech.edu

Parasite cleaning mutualisms may be risky for cleaners because many visitors to cleaning stations are predators. We have shown, using visual models, that blue stripes of cleaner gobies increase contrast and attractiveness against typical coral reef microhabitats. Here we demonstrate in laboratory experiments that cleaner gobies possess chemical defenses against predation and that higher contrast colors correlate with increased chemical deterrence. We therefore predicted that blue striped gobies would both attract more potential clients and deter predation attempts. We used video monitoring of painted goby models to test whether approach frequency, risk of attack, and stylized client posing differed between non-striped, yellow- and blue-striped patterns. Blue-striped models elicit more approaches and induce posing more frequently than yellow-striped models. This increase in visitation does not result in higher numbers of attacks as striped models are attacked less frequently than non-striped. Obligate mutualists must attract partners and may use multiple sensory cues and modalities to signal cooperative status while avoiding predation. Our data suggest that colorful stripes in cleaner gobies send the dual signals of cooperation and defense. Cheating by predators in such mutualistic partnerships may be actively deterred by chemical defenses in a wide variety of systems.