Symphily

Symphily 

the cohabitation of animals of different species, based on spatial and not food relationships. In the first type, synoecy, the guest lives in the host’s home, for example, in bird’s nests, anthills, beehives, and in the burrows of rodents and other animals. In the second type, epioecy, the guest lives on the host’s body. For example, some cirripeds, which feed on plankton organisms, attach themselves to sharks and whales, using them as a means of movement. The third type of symphily is entoecy, or symphily inside the host’s body, without the existence of a food relationship between the guest and its host. For example, the small fish of the genus Fierfaser live in the cloaca of one of the holothurians and periodically come out to feed on barnacles, and nematodes live in the intestines of horses and feed on the infusorians found there.

REFERENCE

Naumov, N. P. Ekologiia zhivotnykh. Moscow, 1955. Page 201.