Microbiome dynamics of coral reef and cleanerfish from ecological surveys, in situ manipulations, and laboratory experiments conducted from 2020-2021

Abstract

Coral reefs host some of the most iconic symbiotic interactions in nature and are host to the highest diversity of life on the planet. Cleaning symbiosis, wherein small fish or shrimp remove external parasites and associated microorganisms from specific clients, is common on coral reefs. Sites on the reef occupied by cleaners, or "cleaning stations", attract a wide variety of fish species that engage in direct physical contact with the cleaner. In this study, we used a combination of ecological surveys, in situ manipulations, and laboratory experiments to examine the unique features of cleaning stations to understand transfer of bacterial and archaeal symbionts amongst fish and within coral reef environment. We used microbial 16S rRNA gene amplicons, environmental parameters, and other molecular tools to evaluate the dynamics between coral microbiomes, cleanerfish skin microbiomes, and the environment. This dataset contains metadata describing sequenced samples, including sample name, data deposition accession records, and measurements at the time of sample collection.

For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/906740