HOBSON: CLEANING SYMBIOSIS 



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Figure 8.— Gnathiid larva from the body surface of the 

 black-and-yellow rockfish, Sebastes chrysomelas. 



fishes that rarely or never interact with cleaners. 

 In considering the ectoparasites found in the gut 

 of particular senoritas, it would be most mean- 

 ingful to do so in regard to the ectoparasites 

 known to be hosted by the species of fishes that 

 these ]5articular senoritas were cleaning when 

 collected. Of the 27 cleaning senoritas taken 

 for the gut-content analysis, 15 (SG'^f) were 

 cleaning blacksmiths, 8 (SO":;) were cleaning 

 topsmelt, 2 {T"r ) were cleaning garibaldis, and 

 2 (1^/r) were cleaning halfmoons. Thus the 

 selection closely parallels the relative frequency 

 with which sefioritas were observed cleaning 

 these same species (Table 1) and is a good sample 

 of the fishes that are cleaned by senoritas. 



Three species of ectoparasites were collected 

 from 10 blacksmiths, 141 to 199 mm long. Each 

 of these blacksmiths carried from 2 to 39 indi- 

 viduals of the copepod Caligus hobsoni on their 

 body surface. One specimen also carried a single 

 gnathiid isopod larva on its body surface, and 

 another the copepod Clavellopsis flexicurvica on 

 a gill arch. All 15 senoritas that were collected 

 as they cleaned blacksmiths contained either 

 Caligus hobsoni or gnathiid larvae, but no other 

 ectoparasites: one contained gnathiids alone, 

 seven contained C. hobsoni alone, and seven con- 

 tained both gnathiids and C. hobsorii. Up to 256 

 individuals of C. hobsoni and up to 263 gnathiid 

 larvae were counted from among the stomach 

 contents of individual seiioritas that had been 

 cleaning blacksmiths. 



Three species of ectoparasites were collected 

 from 13 topsmelt, 122 to 212 mm long. These 



topsmelt each carried from 1 to 23 specimens 

 of the copepod Caliyus sermtns on their body 

 surface. Two topsmelt also carried the copepod 

 Parabomolochus constrictus on their gills, a 

 single parasite on one, four on the other. Two 

 topsmelt also carried the copepod Peniculus 

 fissipes embedded in their fins. Six of the eight 

 seiioritas that had been cleaning topsmelt when 

 collected had ectoparasites among their gut con- 

 tents. Five contained only Caligus serratns — 

 as many as 73 in each fish. One other contained 

 only 10 gnathiid larvae, a parasite that was not 

 seen on the topsmelt themselves; however, as 

 noted above, I suspect that this parasite is more 

 widespread than our survey data indicate. 



Six species of ectoparasites were collected 

 from 20 garibaldis, 184 to 240 mm long. Nine- 

 teen garibaldis each carried 1 to 144 Caligus hob- 

 soni on their body surface. Thirteen each carried 

 1 to 4 individuals of an unidentified species of 

 Lepeophtheinis on their body surface, and one 

 carried a single Bomnlochus ardeole in its 

 branchial cavity. In addition, four carried 1 

 to 8 gnathiid isopod larvae, two carried a single 

 leech, and one carried a single monogenetic 

 trematode, all on their body surface. The two 

 senoritas that were collected as they cleaned 

 garibaldis had preyed mostly on gnathiid larvae, 

 with each containing over 400 of these parasites. 

 In addition, one had consumed six Caligus hob- 

 soni. and the other had taken five Lepeojihtheirus 

 sp. 



Four species of ectoparasites were collected 

 from 13 halfmoons, 166 to 295 mm long. Twelve 

 of the 13 halfmoons each carried 1 to 75 Caligus 

 hobsoni on their body surface. Each of two also 

 carried a single Lepeophtheirus sp. on its body 

 surface, and each of six carried 2 to 7 Peniculus 

 /issii>es embedded in its fins. In addition, each 

 of six carried from 2 to 16 monogenetic trema- 

 todes on its body surface. Of the two seiioritas 

 collected as they cleaned halfmoons, each con- 

 tained only Caligus hobsoni in its gut contents, 

 one a single specimen and the other eight. 



Significantly, with the exception of the gnath- 

 iid larvae in a cleaner of topsmelt, as discussed 

 above, no parasite was found in the cleaner's 

 gut contents that did not occur on the species 

 of fish that was being cleaned by the cleaner 



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