Page 200 - Atlas Of The World's Strangest Animals

200 ATLAS OF THE WORLD’S STRANGEST ANIMALS

The poet Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–92) famously said
Cleaner wrasse habitats
that nature is ‘red in tooth and claw’, and it does often
seem that plants and animals spend their lives in a constant
battle for survival.Those that get the most food, water or
other vital resources survive.Those that don’t, die. So
it’s surprising to discover that, in the animal world,
co-operation can be just as important as competition.
Symbiosis means ‘living together’ and is commonly used
to describe relationships between unrelated species.
Commensual symbiosis, for instance, is where one animal
(or organism) in a partnership benefits while the other
receives no positive or negative impact from the
relationship.The cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) is said to enjoy a
commensual relationship with cattle, by feeding off the
insects they attract. Parasitic symbiosis is an exploitative
relationship, where one party usually injures or kills
another, such as malaria mosquitos feeding on human
blood. Mutualistic symbiosis enables both species to benefit,
and it’s practised by a diverse cross-section of life, from
single-cell organisms to warm-blooded mammals. Some
species of ants, for instance, aggressively protect the thorn
bushes in which they nest by weeding out competing
plants.The Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius) has earned species of bacteria live in our guts, and these help to keep
the name ‘crocodile bird’ because it is said to dive into the us healthy.
mouths of Nile crocodiles to feed on the meat left between
the reptiles’ teeth.The raven (Corvus corax) and wolf (Canis A specialist service
lupus) have been seen to help each other to hunt – the Cleaner wrasse are best known as a symbiotic species that
ravens call out the location of prey to the wolves, and the feed on dead and infected tissue and the parasites that
two then share the kill. Even humans benefit from infect other fish.They are famously able to swim into the
mutualistic symbiosis. Between 300 and 1000 different mouths and gill cavities of predatory species without being

Comparisons

Wrasse belong to the scientific family Labridae, which includes about wrasse tend to be small, torpedo-shaped species, found around coastal
425 species of brightly coloured fish. Many wrasse are active and waters.They come in a variety of colours but generally have a similar
aggressive predators and can grow up to 3m (9.8ft) long. Cleaner pattern of blue or black stripes along their bodies.

Labroides bicolor Labroides dimidiatus Labroides rubrolabiatus

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.