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Animals living in complex social environments are often able to flexibly adjust their behaviour to different social contexts. Yet, flexible responses require time and energy and can be constrained by a variety of mechanisms. Here we asked whether the socio ecological environment experienced by the facultative cleaning goby Elacatinus prochilos influenced their interest in cleaning interactions. Elacatinus prochilos can be found in two socio ecological contexts: inhabiting cleaning stations, where they live in pairs and feed by removing ectoparasites from larger marine organisms (cleaners), or barrel sponges, where they live in dominance hierarchies and rarely engage in cleaning interactions (sponge-dwellers). We tested individuals used in a previous experiment with controlled social structures (small groups with dominance hierarchies) and feeding conditions (better access to food to dominants) to better understand which factors influence cleaning activity in facultative species. We found that dominance significantly decreased cleaning activity in male (and potentially female) sponge-dwellers. We hypothesize that long-term hormone-mediated or time allocation constraints may explain reduced cleaning activity in dominant male sponge-dwellers. While previous studies showed that E. prochilos can be socially flexible, here we showed that feeding flexibility might be restricted for dominant sponge-dwellers. This highlights the importance of testing the flexibility of individuals in different social contexts to better understand the evolutionary importance of adaptive behavioural flexibility. • Facultative cleaning gobies can live in different social and ecological conditions. • We investigated how these differences influenced cleaning interactions. • Dominant individuals from barrel sponges rarely interacted with clients. • This indicates a potential trade-off between dominance and cleaning behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cleaning behavior is a well-known example of trophic specialization that is widespread in marine organisms from both tropical and temperate ecosystems. Cleaner species can be more or less specialized in different aspects of cleaning interactions, and it is often assumed that the more specialized cleaners are, the more they rely on clients for food. However, cleaners can consume different items in different sites, and the factors influencing such variation are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated the diet and distribution of the barber goby Elacatinus figaro across marginal reefs of the Brazilian coast. We evaluated E. figaro's reliance on cleaning interactions for food and asked whether its diet and abundance corresponded to the availability of ectoparasites and/or clients. The diet of E. figaro varied across sites, but ectoparasite reliance was similar and did not correspond to client's infestation loads. Moreover, the density of E. figaro did not correlate with the density or richness of potential clients. These support the hypothesis that E. figaro is less reliant on cleaning interactions for food than other cleaning goby species and suggest a high feeding and behavioral plasticity in marginal reefs. This study also highlights that the current dichotomous classification scheme of dedicated versus facultative cleaners fails to capture the subtle nuances of cleaning behavior and should therefore be used with caution in future comparative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is proposed herein that the juvenile parrotfish Scarus zelindae is a mimic of the barber goby Elacatinus figaro. Juvenile S. zelindae not only resemble E. figaro but also present changes in behaviour that helps establish the existence of a mimic–model system. When approached by divers juvenile S. zelindae remained stationary at the bottom adopting a site-attached behaviour similar to E. figaro. Because of S. zelindae's colour similarity and behaviour changes, we propose that juvenile S. zelindae may be acting as a mimic to the model E. figaro gaining advantage due to the low rate of predation upon cleaner fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]