Abstract
Appreciation for the role of cryptofauna in ecological systems has increased dramatically over the past decade. The impacts blood-feeding arthropods, such as ticks and mosquitos, have on terrestrial communities are the subject of hundreds of papers annually. However, blood-feeding arthropods have been largely ignored in marine environments. Gnathiid isopods, often referred to as “ticks of the sea”, are temporary external parasites of fishes. They are found in all marine environments and have many consequential impacts on host fitness. Because they are highly mobile and only associated with their hosts while obtaining a blood meal, their broader trophic connections are difficult to discern. Conventional methods rely heavily on detecting gnathiids on wild-caught fishes. However, this approach typically yields few gnathiids and does not account for hosts that avoid capture. To overcome this limitation, we sequenced blood meals of free-living gnathiids collected in light traps to assess the host range and community-dependent exploitation of Caribbean gnathiid isopods. Using fish-specific COI (cox1) primers, sequencing individual blood meals from 1060 gnathiids resulted in the identification of 70 host fish species from 27 families. Comparisons of fish assemblages to blood meal identification frequencies at four collection sites indicated that fishes within the families Haemulidae (grunts) and Lutjanidae (snappers) were exploited more frequently than expected based on their biomass, and Labrid parrotfishes were exploited less frequently than expected. The broad host range along with the biased exploitation of diel-migratory species has important implications for the role gnathiid isopods play in Caribbean coral reef communities.
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Data availability
These data were contributed to the Biological & Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) database under the project title “Beyond Cleaning Symbiosis: Ecology of ‘Ticks of the Sea’ on Coral Reefs” (https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/562115).
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Acknowledgements
We thank E. Brill, K. Driskill, A. McCammon, S. Robles, A. Savage, T. Santos, J. Sellers, B. Velez, O. Rullan, and A. Hook for their assistance during field work. We also thank E. Babcock for insightful discussions regarding statistical analyses. We thank the staff of the MacLean Marine Science Center of University of the Virgin Islands, Arkansas State University, Arkansas Biosciences Institute, and the Isla Magueyes Marine Laboratories, University of Puerto Rico. Funding was generously provided by U.S. National Science Foundation grant OCE-1536794 (PC Sikkel, PI). This is contribution number 282 from the University of the Virgin Islands Center for Marine and Environmental Studies and is dedicated to the memory of James (Jimmy) William Buffett.
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Funding was provided by U.S. National Science Foundation Grant OCE-1536794 (PC Sikkel, PI).
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GCH, JDA, MCD, and PCS conceived the idea and designed the study. GCH, MDN, JDA, and PCS developed field methodologies. GCH and MCD developed molecular methods. GCH, MDN, JAP, JDA, and PCS conducted fieldwork. GCH performed laboratory work, data analysis, and wrote the manuscript. MDN, JAP, JDA, MCD, and PCS provided editorial advice.
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Hendrick, G.C., Nicholson, M.D., Pagan, J.A. et al. Blood meal identification reveals extremely broad host range and host-bias in a temporary ectoparasite of coral reef fishes. Oecologia 203, 349–360 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05468-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05468-w