commensal
/kəˈmɛnsəl/
adjective
- Describing a relationship between two organisms where one benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
- Some birds have a commensal bond with grazing animals, eating insects stirred up by their movement.
- The remora fish is commensal with sharks, feeding on scraps without affecting the shark.
- Barnacles have a commensal relationship with whales, hitching a ride without harming them.
Antonyms
noun
- An organism that lives in a commensal relationship with another.
- Certain bacteria are commensals in the human gut, living harmlessly inside us.
- In the ocean, the remora acts as a commensal, attaching to larger fish for transport.
- The barnacle is a common commensal on the skin of whales.