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An adult of a mimetic blenny, the false-cleanerfish Aspidontus taeniatus, is inspected for cleaning by its model, an adult of the bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus. Photo: DR Robertson, Great Barrier Reef, 1972. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054939.g001
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Studies of mimicry among tropical reef-fishes usually give little or no consideration to alternative explanations for behavioral associations between unrelated, look-alike species that benefit the supposed mimic. I propose and assess such an alternative explanation. With mimicry the mimic resembles its model, evolved to do so in response to selecti...
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... of resemblance. The resemblance of adult A. tae- niatus to adult L. dimidiatus is very precise, in body size, the shape & proportions of the body and fins, the hues and tones of colors, and the details of color patterning [1], [24] (see Figure 1). Juveniles and adults of A. taeniatus have very different coloration, which closely matches the equally different juvenile and adult coloration of L. dimidiatus Adult L. dimidiatus have very limited capacity to change their coloration (DRR pers obs). ...
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Citations
... Many examples of mimicry have been reported in coral reef fishes (Moland et al. 2005;Randall 2005;Robertson 2013). The false cleanerfish, Aspidontus taeniatus (Blenniidae) resembles the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus (Labridae) in shape and coloration, and is known as the most elaborate example of mimicry in vertebrates (Wickler 1968;Robertson 2013;Smith-Vaniz et al. 2020). ...
... Many examples of mimicry have been reported in coral reef fishes (Moland et al. 2005;Randall 2005;Robertson 2013). The false cleanerfish, Aspidontus taeniatus (Blenniidae) resembles the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus (Labridae) in shape and coloration, and is known as the most elaborate example of mimicry in vertebrates (Wickler 1968;Robertson 2013;Smith-Vaniz et al. 2020). This mimicry is thought to serve two functions: protective and aggressive mimicry (Wickler 1968;Kuwamura 1983). ...
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Many examples of mimicry have been reported in coral reef fishes of which the most well known is the mimicry of the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus by the false cleanerfish, Aspidontus taeniatus. To examine the effect of protective and aggressive mimicry of A. taeniatus, mortality and feeding behavior were compared with those of the non-mimic lance blenny, Aspidontus dussumieri, by field observations on the coral reefs of Miyako Island, Okinawa, southern Japan. Survival rate of A. taeniatus was more than twice higher than that of A. dussumieri, but the detected differences were not significant, and the effect of protective mimicry could not be determined. The benthic foods common to both species (the tubeworm, Spirobranchus giganteus, and the boring clam, Tridacna crocea) were very scarce in the study sites, and the feeding behavior of the two species was clearly different: A. dussumieri pecked at the bottom substrate, whereas A. taeniatus fed on fish fins and eggs of damselfish, regardless of body size. Our findings are the first documented evidence of the effect of aggressive mimicry on biting fish fins in relation to the availability of other foods not only in small but also in large A. taeniatus.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10164-022-00769-8.
... mimicry of other fish species and protective resemblance to seaweed, fallen leaves, etc. have been reported in fishes (Moland et al. 2005;Randall 2005;Robertson 2013;Queiroz et al. 2016). The juveniles of C. maculata accompanying the pumice rafts around the Okinawa Islands provide an opportunity to test the hypothesis of their protective resemblance. ...
... Adult cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus inspects for cleaning an adult of its cheating counterpart, the mimetic blenny Aspidontus taeniatus. From[63]. Photo by D.R.Robertson (1972), Great Barrier Reef, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054939.g001 ...
Networks offer a convenient model to represent countless real-world situations. The use of networks as a framework to explore ecological complexity has become increasingly popular in the last couple of decades. The study of food webs, which has a long history in ecology, has been complemented by a partially distinct and entirely novel research field focusing on direct, pairwise mutualistic and antagonistic interactions (such as pollination and parasitism). There are obvious conceptual (and sometimes structural) differences between networks that map different kinds of ecological interactions. However, even networks aimed at representing the same ecological entity (e.g. a plant-pollinator system) can be substantially different in terms of the quality and quantity of information they convey. Such differences originate, in most cases, from the challenges in obtaining the relevant ecological data. For example, we might build a plant-pollinator network by spending a few hours in a field looking at flowers and their visiting insects during a single spring day, taking note of each observed visit. Alternatively, we might perform multiple campaigns using sophisticated equipment and performing complementary laboratory experiments. The first network would include basic (and possibly unreliable) information on non-verified interactions between a small set of flowers and insects. It will provide no additional ecological information, such as details on link weights. By contrast, the latter network, built through a substantially higher effort, might include that information level. However, in most real-world cases, technical limitations make it very hard to retrieve all the information that we should ideally include in an ecological network to make it “truly realistic”. Consequently, ecologists often focus on networks that are likely telling only one part of the story. Although the exercise remains extremely valuable, considering the potential data limitations is a crucial step: caution is needed before generalizing results obtained on networks with low informative content since those results might be possibly reversed when additional information is included in the networks.
... Due to their peculiar mating system, low levels of genetic differentiation and the possibility to make a large number of spawning observations in the wild, the hamlets have served as a distinctive model system for the study of a variety of eco-evolutionary processes including the evolution and maintenance of egg trading and simultaneous hermaphroditism (Fischer 1980b;Fischer & Petersen 1987;Peña et al. 2020), sex allocation (Fischer 1981;Petersen 1991), sexual selection (Petersen 2006;Puebla et al. 2012a), recombination (Theodosiou et al. 2016), social-trap and mimicry (Robertson 2013;Puebla et al. 2018;Pierotti et al. 2020), dispersal (Puebla et al. 2009(Puebla et al. , 2012b speciation (Puebla et al. 2007(Puebla et al. , 2011(Puebla et al. , 2012aPicq et al. 2019;Hench et al. 2019) and adaptive radiation (Puebla et al. 2008;Hench et al. 2022). Addressing such fundamental and complex processes requires a good understanding of the taxonomy and natural history of the hamlets. ...
The hamlets (Hypoplectrus spp., Perciformes: Serranidae) constitute a distinctive model system for the study of a variety of ecological and evolutionary processes including the evolution and maintenance of simultaneous hermaphroditism and egg trading, sex allocation, sexual selection, social-trap, mimicry, dispersal, speciation, and adaptive radiation. Addressing such fundamental and complex processes requires a good knowledge of the taxonomy and natural history of the hamlets. Here, we review the taxonomy of the hamlets, from early ichthyological studies to the most recent species description in 2018. We report a total of 72 different binomial names for Hypoplectrus, synonymized or invalidated down to 17 unambiguously recognized species today. In addition, we redescribe Hypoplectrus affinis (Poey, 1861) as a valid species. In Bocas del Toro (Panama), this hamlet is distinct from eight sympatric congeners in terms of colour pattern, body size and behaviour. Whole-genome analysis and spawning observations indicate that it is genetically distinct from sympatric congeners and reproductively isolated through assortative pairing. Based on the colour pattern we detail in its redescription, live-fish photographs, videos, and earlier reports, H. affinis occurs in Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, the Florida Keys, Cuba, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Los Roques (Venezuela), Bonaire, and Tobago. We conclude with a discussion of pending taxonomic issues in this group and the species status of the hamlets in general.
... In addition to driving color evolution in combtooth blennies, these mimetic interactions may also exert selective pressure on body shape. The impacts of mimetic relationships on fish body shape evolution are poorly understood, but qualitative reports suggest mimic body shapes typically resemble their mimicry model species (Russell et al. 1976;Moland et al. 2005;Robertson 2013). Exallias brevis is a hard coral reef specialist, living almost exclusively among Acropora spp., and is the only combtooth blenny with a diet primarily comprised of coral polyps (Carlson 1992(Carlson , 2012Hundt et al. 2014b;Hundt and Simons 2018;Froese and Pauly 2020). ...
Marine intertidal zones can be hasher and more dynamic than bordering subtidal zones, with extreme and temporally variable turbulence, water velocity, salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen levels. Contrasting environmental conditions and ecological opportunities in subtidal versus intertidal habitats may generate differing patterns of morphological diversity. In this study we used phylogenetic comparative methods, measurements of body length, and two-dimensional landmarks to characterize body shape and size diversity in combtooth blennies (Ovalentaria: Blenniidae) and test for differences in morphological diversity between intertidal, subtidal, and supralittoral zones. We found that subtidal combtooth blennies have significantly higher body shape disparity and occupy a region of morphospace three times larger than intertidal lineages. The intertidal morphospace was almost entirely contained within the subtidal morphospace, showing that intertidal combtooth blennies did not evolve unique body shapes. We found no significant differences in body size disparity between tidal zones, no correlations between body shape and tidal zone or body size and tidal zone, and no body shape convergence associated with tidal zone. Our findings suggest that a subset of combtooth blenny body shapes are suitable for life in both subtidal and intertidal habitats. Many species in regions of morphospace unique to subtidal combtooth blennies exhibit distinct microhabitat use, which suggests subtidal environments promoted morphological diversification via evolutionary microhabitat transitions. In contrast, limited intertidal body shape diversity may be due to strong selective pressures that constrained body shape evolution and environmental filtering that prevented colonization of intertidal zones by certain subtidal body shapes.
... На примере губановых, особенно в последние годы, выяснены многие интересные особенности поведения рыб -нересто-вого (Colin, 2010;Suzuki et al., 2010), территориального (Kramer, Chapman, 1999;Jones, 2005Jones, , 2007Topping et al., 2005;Chateau, Wantiez, 2007), пищевого (Shepherd, Clarkson, 2001;Ferry-Graham et al., 2002;Fulton, Bellwood, 2002;Colefax et al., 2016), включая санитарное (рыбы-чистильщики) (Cheney et al., 2008;Francini-Filho, Sazima, 2008), стайного и других форм социальности (Мочек, 1987;White, Warner, 2007). На примере губановых исследуется мимикрия, характерная также для других рыб коралловых рифов (Moland et al., 2005;Randall, 2005;Robertson, 2013), обучение и когнитивные проявления (Coyer, 1995;Paśko, 2010;Jones et al., 2011;Brown, 2012;Miller, Pawlick, 2013;Dunn, 2016). Предпринимаются попытки искусственного воспроизводства некоторых видов рыб этого семейства (Slamet, Hutapea, 2005). ...
Thalassoma lunare и шестиполосой T. hard-wicke талассом. Орган обоняния имеет две ноздри. Тонкие стенки трубки передней ноздри легко смыкаются, задняя ноздря снабжена клапаном. Обонятельная розетка отсутствует, но имеется обо-нятельный диск и вертикальная перепонка-структуры, ранее не известные для органа обоняния рыб. Диск располагается на дне обонятельной полости в её ростральной части. По поверхности дис-ка проходят небольшие гребни-складки, представляющие собой, по-видимому, рудименты первич-ных обонятельных складок. Выраженность гребней-складок, толщина и форма диска у лунной и шестиполосой талассом различаются. У обоих видов один вентиляционный мешок (лакрималь-ный), он крупный и примыкает снизу к обонятельной полости, вход в него расположен на дне по-лости каудальнее от диска. Предложена схема вентиляции органа обоняния. Обсуждается возмож-ность получения талассомами запаховой информации во время нахождения рыб в грунте при пере-жидании опасности. Ключевые слова: Labridae, Thalassoma lunare, Thalassoma hardwicke, орган обоняния, обонятельная по-лость, обонятельные складки, обонятельный диск, вентиляция органа обоняния.
... This discovery of three previously unknown cases of sh mimicry in the Red Sea and several other cases recently reported elsewhere (Rocha et al. 2012;Greer et al. 2016) suggest that there is much left to be studied in this eld. Since few cases of coral reef sh mimicry have been rigorously studied (Robertson 2013), species amenable to detailed studies may provide valuable opportunities to further understand the mechanisms involved. The evolution of genetic regulation for colour in mimicry situations is particularly exciting in this model group of marine animals that, in some cases, are easily reared in the laboratory and manipulated. ...
Here we document three cases of mimicry in coral reef shes not previously reported in the literature involving two groupers (Epinephelus leucogrammicus and Plectropomus marisrubri) and a soap-sh (Diploprion drachi) as mimics, and two wrasses (Larabicus quad-rilineatus and Cheilinus quinquecinctus) and a blenny (Meiacanthus nigrolineatus) as models. All three cases are of aggressive mimicry, with a predatory species mimicking a harmless one, and in one of the cases, the mimicry is also Müllerian, where both the predator and harmless species are unpalatable.
... Since the sample size of the large A. taeniatus on Ishigaki Island was small in this study, further observations are needed, with a focus on the feeding tactics of the larger A. taeniatus when food items other than fish fin are rare, to examine whether they can also rely on aggressive mimicry in such conditions. Moreover, although it has been suggested that this mimicry serves a protective function 1,17,[19][20][21] , no experimental data have been reported to test this function, and further studies are needed. www.nature.com/scientificreports ...
The false cleanerfish, Aspidontus taeniatus (Blenniidae), is known for its morphological resemblance to the bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus (Labridae). It has been suggested that A. taeniatus, which acts as a mimic, can easily bite the fins of other fishes that are deceived into requesting cleaning from it or allowing it to approach them. In fact, A. taeniatus frequently utilises benthic food items, such as damselfish eggs, the Christmas tree worm Spirobranchus giganteus, and the boring clam Tridacna crocea. Although geographical variation in the reliance on aggressive mimicry (fin biting) has been reported, the factors have not been determined. We hypothesised that one of the factors is the abundance of benthic food items. To examine our hypothesis, we compared the feeding behaviour of A. taeniatus at two locations showing contrasting abundances of benthic food items in Okinawa, southern Japan. The frequency of fin biting by the small A. taeniatus in Ishigaki Island, where S. giganteus and T. crocea were very rare, was significantly higher than that in Sesoko Island, where the two food items were abundant. We conclude that the importance of aggressive mimicry in A. taeniatus varies depending on local food conditions.
... unicolor), on the other hand, is differentiated from the other two species in a cluster of Hox genes (hoxc10a, hoxc11a, hoxc12a and hoxc13a). Like the black hamlet, the butter hamlet also performs aggressive mimicry, in this case imitating the color pattern of the non-predatory four-eye butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus) [7,15]. The four-eye butterflyfish is characterized by a large eye-spot at the base of its tail fin-a pattern matched by the butter hamlet. ...
How new species form in the ocean, and thus what determines the diversity of fish in the sea, is not well understood. A study in Caribbean coral-reef fishes sheds light on the genomic underpinnings of diversification in the marine realm.
... Also among the least dimorphic tube blennies, are two species that are hypothesized mimics of other fishes. Hemiemblemaria simulus, the Wrasse Blenny, reportedly mimics the Bluehead Wrasse (Longley & Hildebrand, 1940; but see Robertson, 2003), while Lucayablennius zingaro, the Arrow Blenny, resembles and swims with hovering gobies in the genus Coryphopterus (Greenfield, 1972;Colin & Goman, 1973). The need to match the appearance of model species may constrain the divergence of males and females of these species. ...
Synopsis
The study of sexual differences provides insights into selective factors operating on males and females, especially for clades exhibiting varied levels of dimorphism. Sexual differences in morphology and coloration (melanophores) were compiled for 66 of the 89 species of tube blennies (Blenniiformes, Chaenopsidae) from the systematic literature and examination of preserved specimens. Chaenopsids include essentially monomorphic species and those in which males and females differ in as many as 17 morphological and 14 coloration features. While the sexes of most species differ in coloration (at least at the time of breeding), they are morphologically similar in Acanthemblemaria, Hemiemblemaria, and Lucayablennius. While other genera exhibit an intermediate level of dimorphism, species of Coralliozetus, Cirriemblemaria, and Emblemaria are dramatically dimorphic. Character maps on a phylogenetic hypothesis indicate that this extreme level of dimorphism evolved independently in these genera. A complex history of evolution is implied by examination of jaw length with both increases and decreases in one or both sexes leading to either dimorphism or monomorphism. Several features related to shelter defense are monomorphic in species where both sexes inhabit shelters, but dimorphic where only males occupy shelters. Other dimorphic features increase the conspicuousness of male courtship and aggressive displays.
