I have talked about benthic ctenophores as an example of the kind of neat animal that divers see that scientists often do not-and how "citizen scientists" can play a role in documenting rarely encountered animals like these. (here). My friends over at Blennywatcher.com have some INCREDIBLE video of benthic ctenophores living on the sea star Echinaster luzonicus from Lembeh! Check it out!
Do they count as commensals? Or perhaps mutual symbionts?
ReplyDeleteI don't believe it is well understood. It appears commensal since there is no apparent gain to the host, but this relationship is poorly understood and there may be much more to the ctenophores than is apparent. At this point we are still documenting the relationship...
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