Re: NANFA-- Fish and Crayfish Burrow Coexistance- Was Erymozon

DasArm_at_aol.com
Wed, 5 Apr 2000 23:24:22 EDT

In a message dated 4/5/00 10:17:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
fundulus_at_hotmail.com writes:

<< There are examples in coral reef system of symbiotic relationships of a
fish
species and a shrimp or lobster species sharing a burrow and working
together in hunting food. (Can't remember species names off the top of my
head.) Finding it in a temperate freshwater system would be a first, to my
knowledge. >>

I too would be skeptical of this sort of relationship between freshwater fish
and crustaceans native to this continent , but ever since witnessing a
largemouth bass allowing himself to have parasites removed by a bluegill
instead of eating the bluegill I've started to reconsider the possibilities
of behavioural interactions between piscivorous predatory fish and the fish
that they prey on, as well as between crustaceans and fish that they could
potentially prey on. After all, what is the fullest extent of our knowledge
about the way these organisms behave towards each other and how do we that
our knowledge encompasses the whole of their behavioural patterns? Especially
with regard to crayfish burrows; it seems like they would be extraordinarily
inaccessable for any kind of observation of goings-on in them, considering
how deep some of them get. I think that it would certainly be very
interesting to find out how these fish and crayfish coexist with each other
in the crayfish burrows, if they do at all.

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