Some of the harder species to record in Maizuru.
Itohikihaze イトヒキハゼ is a common species of goby found near the lab but is extremely skittish. They often dart back into their burrows when approached. These burrows are dug by the blind pistol shrimp that they protect forming a symbiotic relationship (Karplus&Thompson 2011). I really had to approach them slowly in order to get my camera close enough (which isn't always easy underwater). Then of course remain still so the shrimp also relaxed enough to come out and continue its burrow maintenance.
This species did a couple interesting behaviors of interspecific communication. First, the tail flicking of the gobies is understood to be a warning signal to the shrimp as there is potential danger in the area and sometimes indicate necessary retreat back into the burrow. The shrimp noticed this because it uses its antennae to always keep a tactile connection to the goby while outside of the burrow. However, a clear signal for retreat is when the gobv dives back into the burrow head-first (Karplus&Tuvia1979).
What was interesting was that the goby did show some rapid color changes while outside the nest. Since the shrimp are blind, I wonder the purpose of this. You can see it happen at 2:04. There's a lot of theories about the meaning of color changes but it is still largely a mystery.
Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy this one.
Song: Low Tide by Chromonicci
Works cited:
Karplus, I., & Thompson, A. R. (2011). The partnership between gobiid fishes and burrowing alpheid shrimps. The biology of gobies, 722, 559-608.
Karplus, I. and Tuvia, S.B. (1979), Warning Signals of Cryptocentrus steinitzi (Pisces, Gobiidae) and Predator Models. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 51: 225-232.
