inktomi
ReefMan
I thought this paper on one aspect of how Percula Clownfish avoid being stung by their host anemones was really interesting. It tuns out, one thing they do (perhaps amongst others) is change the bacterial composition of their skin - while the anemone is doing the same thing at the same time. This change happens very quickly, within about 15 minutes of just being near the anemone in the water. There's no direct contact needed for this to happen - it's all chemical triggers floating around in the water being picked up by specific bacteria in the mucus coating of both the clownfish and the anemone.
The paper is open access - check it out! It's pretty heavy on genetics, but you can skip that part and you won't miss much. The authors also included a really nice little abstract in video form, so you can get the info from the authors (or watch my video
).
There's so much going on with our fish, new discoveries like this are happening all around us. Give your clownfish a bit of extra attention today - they're interesting creatures even though we often think of them as "starter fish".
Microbiomes of clownfish and their symbiotic host anemone converge before their first physical contact. Microbiome 9, 109 (2021).
Émie, AG., François-Étienne, S., Sidki, B. et al.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-021-01058-1
The paper is open access - check it out! It's pretty heavy on genetics, but you can skip that part and you won't miss much. The authors also included a really nice little abstract in video form, so you can get the info from the authors (or watch my video
).There's so much going on with our fish, new discoveries like this are happening all around us. Give your clownfish a bit of extra attention today - they're interesting creatures even though we often think of them as "starter fish".
Microbiomes of clownfish and their symbiotic host anemone converge before their first physical contact. Microbiome 9, 109 (2021).
Émie, AG., François-Étienne, S., Sidki, B. et al.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-021-01058-1
