Connections: Integrative Behavioural Ecology Lab (CIBIO, Portugal)
In collaboration with LECAR, headed out in to the Arraial do Cabo, RJ, Brazil.

During two months, the CIBIO lab team from Portugal (Pauline Narvaez, Miguel Furtado and Marta Reis under
supervision of Marta Soares) developed intense field work in order to test if: 1) the fish parasites emergency from
the benthos mirrors parasite infestations on reef fish species; 2) if the parasitic composition emerged and on
fishes varied in upwelling and non-upwelling habitats and 3) if the infested fish will show higher levels of stress
condition.

Marta Reis, a master candidate, investigated the behaviour of two species of Brazilian damselfishes (Stegastes
fuscus and Stegastes pictus) to understand their mechanisms of symbiosis with cleaner fishes. The mains goal
was to disentangle the outcome of cleaner-seeking behaviour that is common in some species.

More than contributing to the reinforcement of collaborations between Brazil and Portugal, the huge effort of the
whole teams from both sides will provide new valuable data about the reef community interactions in Brazil’s
subtropical reefs.