At a glance, life on the reef looks tranquil. But researchers have now discovered that there’s a lot more going on than first meets the eye – ‘aggressive’ damselfish stop other fish being cleaned by sharknose gobies. This is an example of a third-party disrupting a mutually beneficial relationship – a rarely explored phenomenon. Cambridge researchers want to understand more about how all fish on reefs are connected so that they can help protect and conserve these unique ecosystems.
Filmed: Tobago
The study was funded by a Natural Environment Research Council GW4+ studentship and Christ’s College University of Cambridge Galapagos Islands Fund (both awarded to first author, Katie Dunkley). Last author, James Herbert-Read, was supported by the Whitten Lectureship in Marine Biology, and a Swedish Research Council Grant (2018–04076).
