Klaus is interested in the evolution of marine fishes, especially of their reproductive behavior and symbiosis. In a current project, he investigates the shrimp–goby symbiosis occurring in shallow, sandy areas in tropical and subtropical marine ecosystems. In this symbiosis a gobiid fish uses a burrow dug by an alpheid shrimp in exchange for lookout duties by the large-eyed fish. Using data from the Fishbase database, we compare the the relative eye size of gobies in a shrimp–symbiosis, and solitary gobies. We find no larger relative eye size, and hence no additional investment of the symbiotic gobies into their visual systems as a consequence of the symbiosis.

In future studies we will look at the neurobiological substrate of the shrimp-goby communication.

Relevant Publications:

Stiefel KM (2013) Why are There No Eusocial Fishes? Biol Theory 7:204–210.

Stiefel KM, Merrifield A, Reed M, Joyce DB (2014) A comparison of the gobiid fauna between a shoal and an island habitat in the central Visayas (Philippines). bioRxiv 6049.