in a study published<\/a> in the Journal of Fish Sciences show rarely seen encounters between these creatures that may provide mutual benefits.<\/p>\nGabriel Afonso, lead author and Ph.D. student at William & Mary, said that the emerging field of blackwater photography, or images captured by night-time divers, made this study possible.<\/p>\n
Rich Collins is one of the divers who contributed to the article and a consultant at the Florida Museum of Natural History. He has witnessed lots of surprising interactions between tiny organisms since he started doing blackwater photography, such as filefish carrying box jellyfish in their mouths despite their dangerous sting.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome species of vulnerable larval or juvenile fish use invertebrate species apparently for defensive purposes,\u201d Collins said. \u201cThey\u2019ll find something that\u2019s noxious or stingy, and they just carry it around.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Various-fish-with-anemone-\u2013Credit-Rich-Collins-and-Linda-Ianniello-Photos.jpg\")
Various fish with anemone \u2013 Credit: Rich Collins and Linda Ianniello Photos<\/p>\n
While the sting from a larval anemone might not be enough to kill a predator, Afonso believes it would be \u201cunpalatable\u201d.<\/p>\n
But the pictures featured in the article show how this behavior extends to other juvenile fish and larval anemone interactions. Filefish, driftfish, pomfrets, and a young jack can be seen carrying larval tube anemone or button polyps in their mouths, possibly for protection.<\/p>\n
While adult fish are known to cling to corals for rest and other purposes, the way these juveniles seem to be using anemones for self-defense is still not fully understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I know, this is the first relationship of an open water fish interacting physically with an anemone that looks to be carrying the invertebrate,\u201d Afonso said.<\/p>\n
This could be a new form of mutualism between fish and anemone, because the anemone could also benefit from being carried by the fish as a form of dispersion.<\/p>\n
CURIOUS ANIMAL BEHVAIOR:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Afonso hopes that this article sheds more light on the previously unseen world revealed by blackwater photography and sparks people\u2019s curiosity about the many different interactions happening between fish and invertebrates of all shapes and colors.<\/p>\n
SHARE This Fascinating Story Of Fish And Friendship With Your Own Anemones\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fish with anemone \u2013Credit: Rich Collins and Linda Ianniello Photos A new discovery has revealed that relationships between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,8168,6344,8212,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-201588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fish","11":"tag-marine-life","12":"tag-photography","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2-Fish-with-anemone-\u2013Credit-Rich-Collins-and-Linda-Ianniello-Photos-1024x545.jpg\")
Fish with anemone \u2013Credit: Rich Collins and Linda Ianniello Photos<\/p>\n