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Cleaner fish are potential super-spreaders

Abstract [Related publication]:

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.

Data methods:

In laboratory experiments, we first test the susceptibility of L. dimidiatus to three generalist parasites with contrasting life-histories. To do so, we exposed 20 L. dimidiatus and 20 control individuals (Coris batuensis or Lates calcarifer) to infective stages of a species of gnathiid isopod Gnathia aureamaculosa, a species of monogenean flatworm Neobenedenia girellae and a species of ciliate protozoan Cryptocaryon irritans. We then test whether adult N. girellae remained attached and produced viable eggs when transferred to the skin of live Lab. dimidiatus by manually transplanted adult N. girellae from a donor host to L. dimidiatus. Finally, we test for how long adult N. girellae could survive on L. dimidiatus after being manually transplanted. All data analyses were performed in R version 4.0.2 (R Core Team 2020)
The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publication link below.

Software/equipment used to create/collect the data: Excel version 2205

Software/equipment used to manipulate/analyse the data: R Studio 2021.09.0
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    Data Record Details
    Data record related to this publication Cleaner fish are potential super-spreaders
    Data Publication title Cleaner fish are potential super-spreaders
  • Description

    Abstract [Related publication]:

    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.

    Data methods:

    In laboratory experiments, we first test the susceptibility of L. dimidiatus to three generalist parasites with contrasting life-histories. To do so, we exposed 20 L. dimidiatus and 20 control individuals (Coris batuensis or Lates calcarifer) to infective stages of a species of gnathiid isopod Gnathia aureamaculosa, a species of monogenean flatworm Neobenedenia girellae and a species of ciliate protozoan Cryptocaryon irritans. We then test whether adult N. girellae remained attached and produced viable eggs when transferred to the skin of live Lab. dimidiatus by manually transplanted adult N. girellae from a donor host to L. dimidiatus. Finally, we test for how long adult N. girellae could survive on L. dimidiatus after being manually transplanted. All data analyses were performed in R version 4.0.2 (R Core Team 2020)
    The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publication link below.

    Software/equipment used to create/collect the data: Excel version 2205

    Software/equipment used to manipulate/analyse the data: R Studio 2021.09.0

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  • Other Descriptors
    • Descriptor
      • Descriptor type
    • Data type dataset
  • Keywords
    • cleaner fish
    • parasites
    • transmission
    • symbiosis
    • ARCARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
  • Funding source
    • Australian Society for Fish Biology
    • James Cook University
  • Research grant(s)/Scheme name(s)
    • -
    • Research themes
    Tropical Ecosystems, Conservation and Climate Change
    FoR Codes (*)
    SEO Codes
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    Temporal (time) coverage
  • Start Date 2019/01/15
  • End Date 2020/03/15
    • Time Period
    Spatial (location) coverage
  • Locations
    • Townsville, Queensland, Australia
    • Lizard Island, northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
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  • Related publications
      Name Narvaez P, Morais RA, Vaughan DB, Grutter AS, Hutson KS. Cleaner fish are potential super-spreaders. J Exp Biol. 2022 Jul 20:jeb.244469.
    • URL https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.244469
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- Citation
    Citation Narvaez, Pauline (2022): Cleaner fish are potential super-spreaders. James Cook University. https://doi.org/10.25903/txvf-1216