chicken/egg question

Does the anemone host the clownfish, or does the clownfish host the anemone?

I'd have thought it was the anemone doing the hosting, but I hear it said both ways.

 

I say the anemone is the host. The clown has to go to the anemone so he is only the guest. Now.........if the anemone actually searched out the clown fish the clown would become the host.

 

Now, that sounds correct, right? Now, consider this.......you can put an anemone in the tank and a clown will check it out and then have nothing to do with it. So.....you will conclude that the clown hosts the anemone. However, sometimes the clown will go to the anemone and the anemone will retract every time the clown tries to "buddy up" to it. So I guess it becomes a mutual hosting, the acceptance of each other. It's two sided not one sided.

 

When I started I used to think it made more sense to say the anemone is hosting the clown. When doing research on the subject I found that most people stated that the clown hosted the anemone. Didn't really make sense to me.

Now that clown and anemone have paired up I can see why. My clown actively feeds the anemone. This is something any good host should do.

 

Very good point.

 

The clown feed's his guest (anemone) therefore the clown is the host of the party

 

Again, that sounds correct, however everyone is only seeing a narrow view of what it means to be a host. If you "host" a party, you are the host and people come to your party and bring something to you. If your fish "gets" ich, it becomes the "host" for the parasite. I stand by my first response, it is a mutual "hosting" one to the other.

 

The could get big.

 

My clown hosts a rock.

If anyone feels they need to say my rock is actively doing anything... go ahead. But it's just a rock. It's the clown doing the work and making the decisions.


I see it like this - the clown can host anything it wants. The anemone may or may not be involved, the clown is the only consistent piece of this question.

Anyway, Merrian Webster says this about host


1 a: one that receives or entertains guests socially, commercially, or officially b: one that provides facilities for an event or function

OK, that sounds like my rock is the host. It is providing the facilities.

2 a: a living animal or plant on or in which a parasite lives b: the larger, stronger, or dominant member of a commensal or symbiotic pair

Hmm, is my rock or the clownfish the stronger or dominant member of this pair?


po-tae-toe
pa-tah-toe

;D;D;D

 

Lets just call them symbionts instead of hosts. Then it doesn't matter.

Unlike parasites both species here benefit from the the symbiotic relationship.