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Vertebrate growth can be phenotypically plastic in response to predator–prey and competitive interactions. It is unknown however, if it can be plastic in response to mutualistic interactions. Here we investigate plasticity of vertebrate growth in response to variation in mutualistic interactions, using clown anemonefish and their anemone hosts. In the wild, there is a positive correlation between the size of the fish and the size of the anemone, but the cause of this correlation is unknown. Plausible hypotheses are that fish exhibit growth plasticity in response to variation in food or space provided by the host. In the lab, we pair individuals with real anemones of various sizes and show that fish on larger anemones grow faster than fish on smaller anemones. By feeding the fish a constant food ration, we exclude variation in food availability as a cause. By pairing juveniles with artificial anemones of various sizes, we exclude variation in space availability as a single cause. We argue that variation in space availability in conjunction with host cues cause the variability in fish growth. By adjusting their growth, anemonefish likely maximize their reproductive value given their anemone context. More generally, we demonstrate vertebrate growth plasticity in response to variation in mutualistic interactions.

A major goal in marine ecology is to understand patterns of larval dispersal and population connectivity. Dispersal plasticity allows for adaptive variation in dispersal phenotypes in response to variation in environmental conditions and may help to explain intraspecific variation in dispersal distances. However, this phenomenon has only been hypothesized for marine fishes. Here, we test the hypothesis that parents produce larvae with different dispersal‐related traits in response to variation in environmental quality using the orange anemonefish, Amphiprion percula. By manipulating food rations in a crossover experimental design, we show that parents produce larger offspring on low‐food rations than on high‐food rations. However, there was no effect of parental diet on larval critical swimming speed. We also show that parents produce larvae with smaller otolith cores while on low‐food rations, which, in combination with parentage analyses, may provide a way to test the dispersal plasticity hypothesis in the field. This study shows that parents can produce different larval phenotypes in response to variation in environmental conditions, demonstrating plasticity in a dispersal‐related larval trait that may help to explain observed variation in A. percula larval dispersal distances. Incorporating dispersal plasticity into our understanding of marine dispersal patterns may enhance our understanding of marine metapopulation ecology, fisheries management, and conservation. In this study, we investigate whether dispersal‐related larval traits are plastic in response to parental habitat quality in a marine fish: the clown anemonefish, Amphiprion percula. Results from this study show that parents can produce different larval dispersal‐related phenotypes in response to variation in food rations, which may explain some of the observed variation in A. percula larval dispersal distances.