Can cleaning services persist without corals?
Scleractinian corals are the main architect of coral reefs and have experienced massive die-offs, leading to fundamental changes in reef substrates (Box and Mumby 2007, Cramer et al. 2020, Hughes 1994, Hughes et al. 2007, Jackson et al. 2014). These corals are known, and likely underestimated, nocturnal consumers of gnathiids (Artim and Sikkel 2013, Paula et al. 2021). Not only has high coral cover been associated with lower gnathiid abundance (Artim et al. 2020, Paula et al. 2021, Santos and Sikkel 2017), but dead coral “rubble” is the preferred refuge for gnathiids (Artim and Sikkel 2013). Moreover, corals serve as critical habitat for goby cleaning stations (Whiteman and Côté 2002) as well as a visual beacon for client fishes locating cleaning stations (Losey 1974). Thus, live coral facilitates the cleaner-client mutualism of the primary diurnal cleaner fish on Caribbean coral reefs and likely acts as the primary nocturnal consumer of gnathiids. Elacatinus gobies can reside in alternative sponge-based microhabitats but tend to clean significantly less compared to individuals on coral (Whiteman and Côté 2002). T. bifasciatum are not reliant on any specific reef characteristics (Dunkley et al. 2018), making it unlikely for them to be directly impacted by coral loss (Artim et al. 2020). Thus, the loss of live coral will likely increase the parasite burden of those fish functional groups that rely on goby cleaning services, potentially impacting species populations and disrupting community dynamics.