53, 



benefits one of the symbionts without affecting the other. 

 Parasitism benefits one of the symbionts at the expense of 

 the other one. 



Several types of associations were observed in this 

 survey, only one of which could be considered purely 

 parasitic. This was the infrequent occurrence of large 

 parasitic copepods on the deep-sea eel Synaphobranohus kaupi. 

 Undoubtedly, there were many more examples of parasitism 

 that were not discernable on photographs because many parasites 

 are quite small. Of the other associations seen most could 

 be considered to be commensal. However, it is difficult to 

 distinguish between commensalism and mutualism on the basis 

 of photographs, since little is known about the natural 

 history of many of the organisms. Additionally, many assoc- 

 iations are manifested behaviorally and require direct visual 

 observation over a period of time. 



One of the most common associations was the frequent 

 occurrence of shrimp on the larger soft corals such as 

 Pavagorgia arboreaj Paramurioea grandis^ Primnoa reseda and 

 Eunephthya flovida. A possible relationship between the shrimp 

 and the corals could be that the shrimp clean the surface of 

 the coral, preventing sediment loading, and thereby gaining 

 nutrition from the detritus. Or the shrimp could be afforded 

 protection from predation by hiding within the colony. 

 Another possibility is that the shrimp are merely preying on 



