Benjamin M. Titus

Abstract The symbiosis between clownfish and giant tropical sea anemones (Order Actiniaria) is one of the most iconic on the planet. Distributed on tropical reefs, 28 species of clownfishes form obligate mutualistic relationships with 10 nominal species of venomous sea anemones. Our understanding of the symbiosis is limited by the fact that most research has been focused on the clownfishes.

Supporting Information Filename Description oik21131-sup-0001-AppendixS1.docx1.6 MB Supplementary Material References and 2021. Thor dicaprio sp. nov., a new, conspicuously coloured shrimp from the tropical western Atlantic, with taxonomic remarks on the T. amboinensis (De Man, 1888) complex (Decapoda: Caridea: Thoridae). – Zootaxa 5039: 495–517. , , and 2015. Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. – J. Stat. Softw. 67: 1–48. , , , , , , , , , , and 2020.

Abstract Ecologists have long sought general explanations for the co-occurrence of ecologically similar taxa. Niche theory explains co-occurrence via functional differences among taxa that reduce competition and promote resource partitioning. Alternatively, the unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography suggests that co-occurrence can be attributed to stochastic processes, and thus, presupposes that ecologically similar species that occur in sympatry are functionally analogous.