T of L: Living Together

Question 1

For the goby and the shrimp:
1. What role do each play?
2. What makes each member suitable for their role?
3. Why does the shrimp get lost, and what happens when its lost?

Answer 1

1. The shrimp excavates their hole, the goby is a sentinel.
2. The shrimp is an excellent digger but is blind; the goby has excellent vision.
3. The shrimp gets lost if it strays too far looking for algae. When that happens, the goby finds it, and the shrimp makes contact with the antennae and follows the goby back to the hole.

Question 2

For the hermit crab and anemone:
1. What hunts the hermit crab, and how does he protect himself?
2. Why does the anemone go along with this?

Answer 2

1. Octopus hunts it, so it protects itself by covering the shell with anemones (dislodges them with tickles).
2. The anemone gains higher degree of mobility and food scraps floating from the crab’s meal.

Question 3

For the grouper and cleaner wrasse:
1. Where and how do they meet?
2. How does the wrasse clean the grouper?

Answer 3

1. At reef when the grouper wants a cleaning.
2. By picking off parasites all over including inside the grouper’s mouth!!!!!

Question 4

For the Galapagos tortoise and finch:
1. How do they meet?
2. What does the finch do when they meet?
3. What does the tortoise do in response to meeting the finches?

Answer 4

1. They meet when the tortoise hears the finches and stops to get cleaned.
2. The finches bounce in front of the tortoise to get it to stand tall and stretch its neck.
3. The tortoise stretches all appendages to allow finches to get in all crevices.

Question 5

For the giraffe and the oxpecker, explain both interspecies interactions.

Answer 5

Their relationship is both mutualistic (picks parasites off) and parasitic (picks at open wounds).