Paul Naylor looks at the partnerships struck up by different species who find ways to live together
Prawns gathered round the entrance of a conger’ s home
CRITTERCONFIDENTIAL
Odd Couples
Paul Naylor looks at the partnerships struck up by different species who find ways to live together
Three Fries’ s gobies poised nervously by a scampi burrow
Many of my Critter articles describe the cunning methods that animals use to catch and consume each other, or the equally impressive techniques they use to avoid becoming someone else’ s meal. Occasionally, two very different species seem to rub along together and benefit from their association.
One of the best-known examples is co-habitation in burrows by scampi( also known as Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn or langoustine) and Fries’ s goby( named after the Dutch scientist who discovered it). As so often seems to be the case with these marine‘ partnerships’, however, the‘ contractual arrangements’ are unclear! This is compounded by the fact that scampi live in muddy habitats in relatively deep water, so diver observations are scarce.
Scampi are known to create complex excavations in the mud and, although the goby can make its own burrows by removing mouthfuls of mud, it seems likely that they benefit from the crustacean’ s superior tunnelling equipment. As well as shelter, the gobies probably get scraps from the scampi tearing up its food and may well act as unwitting‘ sentinels’ in return. Their habit of resting photogenically at the mouth of a burrow but darting back down it in a cloud of silt at the slightest disturbance is extremely frustrating for underwater photographers( especially with time limited at depth) but could be very useful in warning the scampi of an approaching catshark or skate.
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