Research project by Emily, Sruja, Jackson and Charlie

CLEANING STATIONS: GOBY NATIONS 

Question: 

What species of fish is most common at the Tobacco Caye neon goby cleaning stations?

Hypothesis: 

We hypothesize that the spotlight parrotfish will be the most frequent visitor at the neon goby cleaning stations. 

Explanation: 

To continue and expand our marine learning at the Tobacco Caye Research station, we tested which fish species was the most frequent visitor at neon goby cleaning stations. Based on our observations and earlier learnings about marine biology, we predicted that the stoplight parrotfish would be the most popular visitor at neon goby cleaning stations. To test our hypothesis, we observed four neon goby cleaning stations. We inventoried and identified each fish that was cleaned. However, our hypothesis was incorrect and therefore rejected. We discovered that the striped parrotfish, a close relative to the stoplight parrotfish, was in fact cleaned the most often. Even though we had to face the difficulties of limited supplies and time, we all had fun and learned a lot from this unique opportunity.