Fish ‘beauty salons’ may help shape reef microbial life — Here’s how

Fish ‘Beauty Salons’ May Help Shape Reef Microbial Life (Image: Canva)

If fish did have spas, coral reefs would be the place. Cleaner fish stations are vibrant underwater bars where large fish come for a shine. Such small employees — such as cleaning gobies — provide more than facials. Their daily routines may also affect the underground world of microbes on reefs.

A Study on Reef Cleaners and Microbes

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and University of Miami investigated this strange concept. They investigated whether cleaner fish stations could transmit bacteria, both beneficial and pathogenic, within reef communities.

In June 2021, the team conducted fieldwork in St. Croix and Puerto Rico. They extracted cleaning gobies from targeted reef stations and contrasted the microbial activity with regions in which gobies were still present. They tracked resident damselfish, bacteria richness in the water and nutrient levels.

Cleaner fish stations were in demand. Greater numbers of fish attended gobied than non-gobied sites. Microbial diversity and concentrations of nutrients were also different when gobies were present, found scientists. But the outcomes differed by reef type and near-reef habitat.

Small Fish, Large Ecological Impact

Lead author Anya Brown, an Explorer-in-Residence with National Geographic and a scientist at UC Davis, says that these results go some way toward explaining how microbes can travel through reefs. She added that microbes impact coral bleaching as well as reef health in general. The research lays the groundwork for future research on microbial migration in oceans.

Coauthor Paul Sikkel of the University of Miami said that cleaner fish are underappreciated but have big effects on the functioning of reefs. He referred to the research as the first one to quantify how these fish influence microbial communities where they live.

The research project was carried out by a number of partners, such as WHOI and the University of Porto. The National Science Foundation and foreign partners financed the project. Since coral reefs are threatened by global warming, research such as this identifies how even the smallest species contribute to the survival of reefs.