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  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Cleaning in pairs enhances honesty in male cleaning gobies
    (2009)
    Soares, Marta C.
    ;
    ;
    Côté, Isabelle M.
    A recent game theoretic model akin to an iterated prisoner's dilemma explored situations in which 2 individuals (the service providers) interact simultaneously with the same service recipient (the client). If providing a dishonest service pays, then each service provider may be tempted to cheat before its partner, even if cheating causes the client's departure; however, a theoretical cooperative solution also exists where both partners should reduce cheating rates. This prediction is supported by indirect measures of cheating (i.e., inferred from client responses) by pairs of Indo-Pacific bluestreak cleaner wrasses Labroides dimidiatus. Here, we examine how inspecting in pairs affects service quality in Caribbean cleaning gobies Elacatinus spp. We measured dishonesty directly by examining the stomach contents of solitary and paired individuals and calculating the ratio of scales to ectoparasites ingested. We found that the propensity to cheat of females and males differed: females always cleaned relatively honestly, whereas males cheated less when cleaning in pairs than when cleaning alone. However, overall, the cleaning service of single and paired individuals was similar. Our results confirm that cleaners cooperate when cleaning in pairs; however, our findings differ from the specific predictions of the model and the observations on L. dimidiatus. The differences may be due to differences in mating systems and cleaner–client interactions between the 2 cleaner fish species.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    The cleaning goby mutualism: a system without punishment, partner switching or tactile stimulation
    (2008)
    Soares, Marta C.
    ;
    Côté, Isabelle M.
    ;
    Cardoso, S.C.
    ;
    In the cleanerfish–client mutualism involving the Indo-Pacific cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus and its reef fish clients, mechanisms such as ‘tactile stimulation’, partner switching and punishment are used by clients to control cheating by cleaners. We sought to establish whether these behaviours are general features of cleaning mutualisms by examining their presence in interactions between Caribbean cleaning gobies (Elacatinus spp.) and their clients. The cleaning goby–client mutualism bears several similarities to the cleaner wrasse system: clients visit cleaners frequently to have their ectoparasites removed while cleaners depend heavily on these visits for food, and cheating by cleaning gobies is also prevalent. However, our data revealed striking differences between the two cleanerfish systems: clients did not seem to attempt to control cheating by cleaning gobies and cleaning gobies did not perform tactile stimulation on their clients. We suggest three hypotheses that might explain these major differences between both systems, based on differences in mutual dependence between cleaners and clients or cognitive ability of cleaners, differences in costs of being cheated and differences in foraging preferences by cleaners. Interactions between L. dimidiatus and its clients should probably not be seen as the ‘standard’ marine fish cleaning mutualism.