MIAMI, Untied States (CMC) – A new study has found that Caribbean spiny lobsters practice “behavioural immunity” to create safe havens that prevent them from contracting a lethal disease in the wild.

Associate Professor, Don Behringer, of the University of Florida (UF), worked with Old Dominion University Professor Mark Butler on the study that used data from a massive sponge die-off in the Florida Keys.

In the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists showed how the Caribbean spiny lobster uses a form of behavioural immunity to prevent the spread of the PaV1 virus, which takes a heavy toll on their populations.

“Increased infection risk has long been deemed a cost for the many benefits of being a social animal. However, we have shown that a social marine animal, the spiny lobster, has developed behaviours to reduce disease transmission by avoiding infected individuals,” said Behringer.

Behringer, Butler and other scientists studied data from a 2007 massive sponge die-off in a 926-square mile area of the Florida Keys.

Scientists in surveying the lobster population at sites where sponges survived also measured the prevalence of PaV1 just after the die-off, and for years after, and saw no increase in the prevalence of the virus.

Researchers also introduced either a healthy or an infected lobster to other lobsters living naturally under sponges that had survived.

The study found that healthy lobsters left dens following introduction by lobsters infected with the virus, despite the scarcity of other shelters and the high risk of being preyed upon while searching for a new shelter.

The combination of field surveys after the sponge die-off, experiments and simulation modelling supports the hypothesis that spiny lobsters practice behavioural immunity and that it can suppress a likely marine epidemic, Behringer said.

“Understanding all we can about its impacts and the natural ways lobsters reduce infection risk is of great economic importance,” he added.