Spent all morning taking our Coral Reef Ecology midterm, which was the second exam of the week. This exam did not consist of an underwater portion; however, we did get in the water this afternoon. When we embarked on our dive, we were going on a scavenger hunt of sorts. We had to find 10 different occurrences of symbiosis or competition. Symbiosis occurrences could be a form of mutualism (both species are benefitted from the interaction), commensalism (one species benefits while other is neither harmed nor helped), or parasitism (one species benefits at the expense of the other species). Competition could be intraspecific (within species) or interspecific (between different species) competing for space, light, or food. We had 50 minutes to find these 10 occurrences with at least two of them being a form a symbiosis and two being competition. I was able to find an example of each of the different types of symbiosis and competition. To find some of the interactions, I had to get really close to the reef and change body position. I spent a good portion of the dive with my feet above me to look down into crevices or get really close to the floor without hitting the coral.
Some of what I saw:
- A sharknose goby in a purple tube sponge
- Commensalism - Inquilinism (one organism use another for housing)
- A creole fish with an isopod attached to the outside of its mouth
- Parasitism - Ecoparasitism (parasite on the outside of the body)
- A giant green sea anemone with Pederson cleaner shrimp
- Mutualism - Obligatory (species dependent on the other species)
Aside from doing this assignment, I saw a
spotted drum fish. These fish have a very unique body shape (check out the link). Some of my classmates saw a sea turtle, but I unfortunately didn't see it this time around. I have seen a few though while snorkeling but not diving yet.
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