Fig. 1
From: Anemonefish use sialic acid metabolism as Trojan horse to avoid giant sea anemone stinging
Sialic acid levels in lab and wild caught pomacentridae showing less Neu5Ac in symbiotic species. A Neu5Ac and Kdn levels (expressed in ng/100 µg of protein) in lab reared fish (held without sea anemone): five symbiotic anemonefish species (Amphiprion biaculeatus, A. clarkii, A. frenatus, A. ocellaris, and A. percula) and 1 symbiotic (when juvenile) damselfish species (Dascyllus trimaculatus) compared to one non-symbiotic damselfish species (Acanthochromis polyacanthus). A non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test (p value on top of the graph) was performed. B Neu5Ac and Kdn levels (expressed in ng/100 µg of protein) in wild caught fish: seven symbiotic anemonefish species (A. chrysopterus, A. clarkii, A. frenatus, A. ocellaris, A. perideraion, A. polymnus, and A. sandaracinos), one symbiotic damselfish species (D. trimaculatus at the juvenile and adult stage), and three non-symbiotic species (Chrysiptera cyanea, Pomacentrus moluccensis, and Chromis viridis). A non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test (p value on top of the graph) followed by a pairwise Wilcoxon rank sum test was performed for Neu5Ac. Only significant differences between anemonefish species, D. trimaculatus, and each damselfish species are displayed for Neu5Ac and indicated by a star (*). A non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test was performed for the Kdn levels, followed by a pairwise Wilcoxon rank sum test (p value on top of the graph) (significant differences are displayed by a star (*) below the graph). Data are presented in Additional file 6: Table S1