BIOLOGICAL NOTES
whose livery resembles that of the true cleanerfish, allowing it to hang around a cleaning station without attracting undue attention. But rather than cleaning the client, it leaps on the unsuspecting patient and bites a chunk of flesh before taking flight. There are many of these liars on the reef. They play for high stakes, but usually get away with it... Here is the familiar hermit crab, a soft-bodied creature that carries a shell it has found, to protect its fragile abdomen. When the shell becomes too small, it finds a new one. And when it isn’t sufficiently persuasive, the crab invites one or more anemones and their tentacles to stay. The crustacean will even go so far as to gently caress the anemone, to encourage it to move house with it and take up residence on the new shell. Some, truly tiny crabs, even grow anemones on their claws, using their stinging tentacles to ward off predators who threaten their peace and quiet. These lines offer an idea of the complexity, dense relationships, and laws of biology that reign in the world of coral. So numerous are the examples to be found, that we have wide latitude when it comes to writing our story. We will be able to delve deeply into the imaginary, while never betraying the biological reality. Such opportunities are rare when writing on lines laid down for us by nature itself.
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