Sea anemone host selection by the symbiotic saddled cleaner shrimp Periclimenes holthuisi

Abstract

A preliminary field survey was conducted to determine the distribution of ectosymbiotic shrimp Periclimenes holthuisi on the sea anemone Stichodactyla haddoni in Moreton Bay (Queensland, Australia). Laboratory experiments were also carried out to verify whether the shrimp show a preference for one anemone host. In the field, 45 individuals of P. holthuisi were found to be associated with 70% of the specimens of S. haddoni (n = 20). We inferred this shrimp population was not space-limited because not all anemones were colonized. After having been isolated from their natural host for 2 weeks, when placed between individuals of S. haddoni and Macrodactyla doreensis (an anemone that is sympatric with S. haddoni), shrimp overwhelmingly selected S. haddoni (92%). To establish whether M. doreensis may serve as an alternative host for P. holthuisi, unacclimated shrimp were forced to associate with this anemone. Macrodactyla doreensis showed little tentacle reaction during this association; shrimp were found on the anemone's tentacles and the column. The finding that M. doreensis can serve as an alternative host for P. holthuisi demonstrates that this anemoneshrimp is adaptable to another anemone host and thus may not be highly host specific.