GABAergic role in the disruption of wild cleaner fish behaviour under high CO2

• Published in: Animal Behaviour
• Main Authors: Paula, José Ricardo, Cascalheira, Ligia, Oliveira, Raul, Otjacques, Eve, Frazão Santos, Catarina, Beldade, Ricardo, Mills, Suzanne C., Rosa, Rui
• Other Authors: NOVA School of Business and Economics (NOVA SBE)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: cleaner fish; cooperative cleaning behaviour; coral reef; GABA receptor agonist muscimol; GABA receptor antagonist gabazine; GABAergic role; Labroides dimidiatus; ocean acidification; Ecology; Evolution; Behavior and Systematics; Animal Science and Zoology; SDG 14 - Life Below Water; Bia; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/160085; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.11.003

Funding Information: We acknowledge CRIOBE research station staff for the help provided throughout this study. We also acknowledge Frederik Zuberer for providing the cleaner fish photo. Portuguese national funds funded this study through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia , I.P., within the projects PTDC/BIA-BMA/0080/2021 (ChangingMoods), PTDC/MAR-EST/5880/2014 (MUTUALCHANGE), the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2020 (MARE), LA/P/0069/2020 (ARNET) and a PhD scholarship ( SFRH/BD/111153/2015 ). The Company of Biologists supported this study through a research grant to J.R.P. ( JEB 170212–2017 ). J.R.P. was supported by FCT through the CEEC program 2021.01030.CEECIND. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s) Ocean acidification is considered to affect fish behaviour through the disruption of GABAergic neurotransmission in controlled laboratory conditions, but less is known of the GABAergic role on fish behavioural performance in the wild. Most coral reef fishes engage in complex cleaning interactions, where they benefit from ectoparasite removal and stress relief. Here, we tested whether potential ocean acidification impairment of wild cleaning interactions, between the cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus and its clients, can be explained by the GABAAR model. We used, the GABAA receptor agonist (muscimol) and antagonist (gabazine) for the first time in the wild and tested their effects on cleaning behaviour in Moorea Island (French Polynesia) to address natural interactions and recovery capacity. After exposure to expected ocean acidification conditions, the proportion of time spent advertising cleaning services, a measure of motivation to interact, dropped significantly relative to controls. Furthermore, the GABAergic antagonist gabazine recovered most CO2-induced behavioural alterations to control levels, consistent with the GABAAR model of altered Cl− flux in ocean acidification-exposed fish. However, muscimol treatment only produced the same behavioural alterations found with CO2 exposure in time ...