From Mutualistic Partner to Hunted Prey? - Open Journal of Animal Sciences

OJAS > Vol.9 No.1, January 2019

From Mutualistic Partner to Hunted Prey? ()

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DOI: 10.4236/ojas.2019.91008 1,163 Downloads 2,236 Views Citations

Author(s)

Erich K. Ritter

Affiliation(s)

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL, USA.

ABSTRACT

Sharks and sharksuckers maintain a mutualistic symbiotic relationship; thus, it is surprising to observe a lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris, killing a sharksucker, Echeneis lucrates, which has been recorded during a dive with lemon sharks. Does this observation indicate that the symbiosis between the two species may shift occasionally? The awkwardness of the recorded kill, combined with its comparatively long duration, suggests this bout be a freak incident, rather than a common occurrence; thus, the mutualistic relationship needs not be questioned. What triggered the bout, however, can only be speculated. Although the caloric value of the killed sharksucker is not known, a feeding-oriented behavior can likely be rejected as the potential cause based on the teleost’s rather small size, and an irritation related issue is more likely to have triggered this bout.

KEYWORDS

Irritation, Kill, Mutualistic, Shark, Sharksucker, Symbiosis

Share and Cite:

Ritter, E. (2019) From Mutualistic Partner to Hunted Prey?. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 9, 88-96. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2019.91008.

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