Data and Code for: Predation Risk and Predator Avoidance in a Marine Cleaning Mutualism

Cleaning mutualisms involve interactions in which a small “cleaner” organism removes parasites or other material from a larger “client” organism. Although cleaners are often thought to be rarely preyed upon, this study examines predation risk to cleaner shrimp from organisms outside the cleaning mutualism. The study combines (1) natural-history observations documenting predation on the cleaner shrimp Ancylomenes pedersoni by a mantis shrimp at a cleaning station, (2) laboratory feeding assays testing whether tissue from cleaner shrimp can be consumed by reef fishes, and (3) a laboratory behavioral experiment testing whether cleaner shrimp alter their spatial association with their host anemone in the presence of a potential predator. The archived data and R code support the analyses and figures associated with the anemone-association and palatability experiments.