065 You Dig, I Watch
Hey Goby, a nearly blind shrimp digs the burrow you both share, and you keep watch at the door, with its feeler resting on you.
Who watches out while we do the work?
Who watches out for you while you do the work?
On the sandy sea floor, a small hole. At its mouth, a little fish sits still, eyes alert.
Beside it, a shrimp shovels sand out of the burrow, one feeler always touching the fish.
What really happens
Some gobies and pistol shrimps live as partners. The shrimp, which sees poorly, digs and maintains the burrow they share.
The goby keeps watch. The shrimp keeps a feeler on the fish. When danger comes, the goby flicks its tail, and both dart into the hole.
How we know: The goby and shrimp partnership has been studied by marine biologists, including Ilan Karplus.
The turn
None of us can do the work and keep watch at the same time.
The best partnerships let each one do what it does best, and stay in touch.
Three takeaways
- Divide the work by strength.
- Stay in touch while you work.
- Trust your watcher, and be a good one.
You dig. I watch. We both live.
The fittest are not the physically strongest, nor the cunningest, but those who learn to combine so as mutually to support each other.