Pairs of cleaner fish prolong interaction duration with client reef fish by increasing service quality

Abstract

We present field experiments showing that levels of cooperation quantitatively predict the duration of interactions between the cleaner wrasse and its reef fish clients. Our study contrasts the general assumption that cooperating is a discrete decision, lacking a time dimension that would allow for continuous rather than discrete decisions. Our results precisely fit the predictions of a recent model that attempted to increase biological validity through the incorporation of a time component in cooperative interaction