New friends, Part II

Around the same time that my sister's new friend was herself making a new friend in an old lobster (as described in Part I below), two friends of mine were welcoming a whole slew of new friends into their home. Ryan and Katie are the proud owner of a magnificent coral reef aquarium in their East Village apartment, something to keep the sea in their lives in between their much beloved dive trips to exotic and far-flung corners of the globe (as an aside, as a fine diver, writer, photographer, and naturalist, Ryan really should be authoring his own marine-themed blog; stay tuned for the link when it happens...). Among the residents of their aquarium is a pair of Bangaii cardinalfish.

This past summer, Ryan and Katie reported that their Bangaii pair had given birth to 18 babies (a few of which are pictured above). Like all cardinalfish, Bangaii cardinals adopt the peculiar practice of brooding young in the mouth of the male. The male will safeguard the fertilized eggs as the embryos develop, and then release them upon hatching. Ryan and Katie expressed great pride at providing a home to such a large clutch of young of this species, which is critically endangered in the wild and listed on the IUCN Red List.

Conveniently, my friend and former labmate during grad school John (who also appears in last month's "Postscripts" post and May's "Who needs outer space?") was visiting when news of Ryan and Katie's new arrivals came. John is an expert on tropical fishes of the Indo-Pacific, and I asked him about the Bangaii in the wild and in captivity. He confirmed the dire status of the species in the wild due to its very restricted distribution, overharvest for the aquarium trade, and habitat destruction. However, John also guessed that the global population in aquaria is probably much larger than the wild population had ever been. Therefore, captive breeding like that done by Ryan and Katie is taking harvest pressure off the wild population, and one day might provide the basis for a reintroduction program.

Recently, Ryan and Katie reported that the breeding pair gave birth to a second, smaller clutch of four young. This one caught them off guard, and before they could quarantine the newcomers from the other inhabitants of the tank - several of which might find them a tasty treat - one had swum down to the haunt of their dusky jawfish Terrence. Now, Terrence was the victim of a previous run-in with an urchin spine that left him blind in one eye and quite sullen in mood. However, this accident proved fortunate for the wayward Bangaii.

Rather than swallow the Bangaii baby whole in a manner befitting the ambush predator style of his species, Terrence not only let him/her live but slowly adopted a partnership. The Bangaii serves as an extra set of eyes on Terrence's blind side, while Terrence provides protection (or at least provides a feeling of safety) from other predators. And, the friendship has rejuvenated Terrence's spirits, making him more active and vibrant. Ryan notes that it seems these two fish have formed their own unique symbiosis (discussed in July's "Symbiotic betrayal" and, ahem, further addressed in last month's "Postscripts").

I think he's right. It is different than many symbioses seen in nature in that it is not the product of repeated interactions between two species that is continually reinforced as an inherent behavioral trait at the genetic level through natural selection. Rather, it is opportunistic and situational, and while it might lack the long-term persistence of other famous partnerships in nature, it is significant in what it says about the adaptability of living things and the responsive plasticity of their behavior. It makes me think of the famous, fascinating, and frankly quite adorable friendship the developed between a juvenile hippo and an ancient giant tortoise at a Kenyan nature preserve following the Indian Ocean tsunami.

I'll leave this post with some thoughts from Ryan on his Bangaii/jawfish duo, the sentiments of which can likely apply to many people's thoughts on the hippo/tortoise pairing...and probably many other oddball friendships we've all encountered over the years:

"That such a curious friendship could form in a cube in my living room is such a quirky nugget of life-affirming treasure that I thought I would share it with some of those who’ve been polite enough to feign interest when I’ve forced you to hunker in front of the glass while I wax poetic on such topics as the shell games played by hermit crabs and the peripatetic nature of coral polyps. Hopefully it will set the mood for your weekend."

Symbiotic Betrayal

By now, all sports fans and animal lovers, and most people who glance at a newspaper from time to time, know that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and three others have been indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple crimes related to a dogfighting operation. That Vick is a remarkable athlete is without question. Whether he is also a deplorable scumbag remains to be seen (my official innocent-until-proven-guilty stance is that the jury is still out; my gut feeling after reading the 19 page indictment is an unqualified "yes").

Regardless, why do I raise the Vick indictment in a blog that has variously covered ecology and natural history, environmentalism broadly and marine conservation specifically, and the intersection between science and public policy? It is because the issue pertains to the relationship between humans and dogs that represents a type of mutually beneficial symbiosis. In fact, in my mind it is the most diverse and unusual symbiosis in all of nature.

"Symbiosis" is a broad biological concept representing any close, long-term interaction between two species. Not all types are to the benefit of both species, specifically the many types of parasitism (e.g., mistletoe that stunts the growth or kills host trees; isopod crustaceans that adhere to the tissues of marine fish). However, in my mind the more intriguing types benefit both species involved, a sort of evolutionary partnership. Marine examples of these mutualistic symbioses abound. Corals are able to form magnificent reefs by housing photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae, which act as a sort of internal power station. There is an unwritten law somewhere that every dive magazine ever published must contain at minimum three photos (including ads) of a clownfish or anemonefish and its partner anemone. And the terrestrial world is not without its examples, too. The hippopotamus has a somewhat complex symbiosis with the oxpecker, which removes ticks but might also prolong wounds, and a more straightforward (and more funky) one with the black labeo fish, which cleans the inside of the mouth when the hippo is submerged. This is but a sampling of the many and varied ecological partnerships we called symbioses.

But our own symbiosis with dogs particularly fascinates me. Perhaps I am biased as a member of one of the species partners. Still, in exchange for providing shelter, food and other care, dogs have come to provide a wide range of services to people. This diversity has come to rely upon considerable coaching and selective breeding from our end, to be sure. But the origins of the partnership probably lay in a decision on the canid end to come to us. From there it grew, and has now evolved to span a wide array of services:

• Guidance for the blind and disabled.


• Search and rescue in both wilderness and urban areas, not to mention in water.


• Sniffing out landmines and bombs, including during the thick of war.


• Sniffing illegal plant and animal products, such as those at risk for bird flu.


• Hunting (once necessary for our survival, now mostly for our recreation).


• Protection and herding of cattle (part of the heritage of the mutt above) and sheep.


• Personal protection and police work.


• Transportation and draft work.


• Therapy for the ill and elderly (once a service of the mutt above).

Nowhere will you find a symbiosis so wide-ranging. And those who practice the sick, grotesque, and - thank you Sen. Byrd - barbaric "sport" of dogfighting have betrayed a longstanding and productive relationship. If we do not stamp this out across the board (not just as it involves one high-profile athlete) we will perpetrate a gross dishonor to evolution, our historical heritage and, most importantly, our friends.