. Anand on a visit to under the ocean aquarium found that many sea anemones
are attached to hermit crab shells, clown fish living among the sea anemones .
He wondered whether these two associations are of same type, can you help
him to arrive at the correct conclusion
Answers
Explanation:
Hermit crabs and sea anemones have a symbiotic relationship, meaning they live in harmony together. It’s a stable connection that sidesteps the typical prey and predator relationship found in nature. The type of symbiosis they engage in is called commensalism. Commensalism means one organism benefits and the other organism isn’t harmed by the partnership. Neither the hermit crab nor the sea anemone is negatively affected by their symbiotic and commensalistic relationship.
The hermit crab gains protection from predators by its relationship with the sea anemone. A hermit crab is less likely to be eaten by a larger predator fish if he has an anemone onboard.Since the sea anemone will eat just about anything in the sea, it gets to eat whatever tidbits the hermit crab leaves behind. The hermit crab does the work of capturing dinner and the sea anemone cleans up the leftovers. It’s a steady food supply for the sea anemone.
Sea anemones move very little, if at all. An added benefit of hitching a ride on a hermit crab’s shell is getting exposed to a much larger area to forage for food. While the hermit crab is trolling around on the sea floor, the anemone can make use of the time traveling on his mobile home to trap and collect plankton and small fish.