Counts of gnathiid consumption
Fish functional group was a significant predictor of gnathiid counts (Z=10.83, p<.005). Gnathiid counts were statistically similar for dedicated and facultative cleaners, and both of those groups had significantly higher gnathiid counts than all other functional groups (Table 2, Fig. 2A). Dedicated cleaners had the highest average gnathiids per gut with 11.3 while facultative cleaners had 10.7 per gut (Table 1). Facultative cleaners were also found to consume gnathiids across all life history stages. The next highest gnathiid counts per gut were the planktivores with an average 0.6 (Table 1, Fig. 2A). Furthermore, when considering only those individuals that consumed at least one gnathiid, facultative cleaners consumed more gnathiids on average compared to dedicated cleaners. However, the magnitude of difference with respect to the other groups was largely unchanged (Fig. 2B). Based on our results, we determined the quantity of individuals from a given functional group that would be required to replace a single dedicated cleaner (Fig. 3). Facultative cleaners are a nearly one to one replacement, while planktivores would require 18 individuals, scrapers 44 individuals, and all other groups would need between 97 and 162 individuals to replace one dedicated cleaner (Fig. 3).