Our simulations revealed that a zero-sum game can emerge from this system at unexpectedly infrequent rates of cleaning by wrasse in the wild. We parameterized our simulation based on published models of sea lice epidemics from farms to calculate the relative impact of lice when wrasse are removed from the ecosystem to serve as cleaners. We test our hypothesis using an ecological simulation of wrasse as cleaners of farmed Atlantic salmon and wild sea trout ( Salmo trutta). Such a scenario would entail a zero-sum game. However, we hypothesize that this practice may result in no net benefit to the infestation pressure on wild fish if gains in farm-based control trade off against the removal of lice from wild fish by wrasse moved from the wild into net pens. parasites transferring from farmed to wild fish) onto vulnerable wild salmonid populations. Outbreaks impact animal welfare and threaten wild fish populations due to this, millions of cleaner fish (especially wrasses from the family Labridae) are wild-caught each year and transferred into Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar) farms to remove ectoparasitic sea lice (predominantly Lepeophtheirus salmonis) from farmed salmon and reduce spillover (i.e. Fish that engage in mutualistic cleaning behaviour (‘cleaner fishes’) have recently been popularized as a nature-based method of controlling ectoparasite outbreaks in fish farms.
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