Bluestreak cleaner wrasse

Bluestreak cleaner wrasse
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Labridae
Genus: Labroides
Species: L. dimidiatus
Binomial name
Labroides dimidiatus
(Valenciennes, 1839)
Synonyms
  • Cossyphus dimidiatus Valenciennes, 1839
  • Labroides paradiseus Bleeker, 1851
  • Callyodon ikan Montrouzier, 1857
  • Labroides bicincta Saville-Kent, 1893
  • Labroides caeruleolineatus Fowler, 1945

The bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, is one of several species of cleaner wrasses found on coral reefs from Eastern Africa and the Red Sea to French Polynesia. Like other cleaner wrasses, it eats parasites and dead tissue off larger fishes' skin in a mutualistic relationship that provides food and protection for the wrasse, and considerable health benefits for the other fishes.[2][3][4]

Cleaning

L. dimidiatus with a client surgeonfish at a cleaning station.

Cleaner wrasses are usually found at cleaning stations. Cleaning stations are occupied by different units of cleaner wrasses, such as a group of youths, a pair of adults, or a group of females accompanied by a dominant male. When visitors come near the cleaning stations, the cleaner wrasses greet the visitors by performing a dance-like motion in which they move their rear up and down.[5] The visitors are referred to as "clients". Bluestreak cleaner wrasses clean to consume ectoparasites on client fish for food. The bigger fish recognise them as cleaner fish because they have a lateral stripe along the length of their bodies,[6] and by their movement patterns. Cleaner wrasses greet visitors in an effort to secure the food source and cleaning opportunity with the client. Upon recognising the cleaner and successfully soliciting its attention, the client fish adopts a species-specific pose to allow the cleaner access to its body surface, gills and sometimes mouth. Other fish that engage in such cleaning behavior include goby fish (Elacatinus spp.)[7]

Some fish mimic cleaner wrasses. For example, a species of blenny called Aspidontus taeniatus has evolved the same behavior to tear small pieces of flesh from bigger fish. Another species, the bluestreak fangblenny, Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos, mimics juvenile cleaner wrasse so its presence is tolerated by the cleaners, which, it is assumed, enables it to take advantage of the concentration of potential victims.[8]


References

  1. ↑ Shea, S. & Liu, M. 2010. Labroides dimidiatus. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 10 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Côté, I.M. (2000). "Evolution and ecology of cleaning symbioses in the sea". Oceanography and Marine Biology 38 (1): 311–355.
  3. ↑ Johnsom, M.L. (2012). "High street cleaners". Biodiversity Sciences.
  4. ↑ Sims, C.A., Riginos, C., Blomberg, S.P., Huelsken, T., Drew, J., Grutter, A.S. (2013) Cleaning up the biogeography of Labroides dimidiatus using phylogenetics and morphometrics. Coral Reefs. DOI: 10.1007/s00338-013-1093-2
  5. ↑ Froese, Ranier. "Labroides dimidiatus". FishBase. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Stummer, L.E., Weller, J.A., Johnson, M.L., & Côté, I.M. (2005). "Size and stripes: how clients recognise cleaners". Animal Behaviour 68 (1): 145–150. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.10.018.
  7. ↑ M.C. Soares, I.M. Côté, S.C. Cardoso & R.Bshary (August 2008). "The cleaning goby mutualism: a system without punishment, partner switching or tactile stimulation". Journal of zoology 276 (3): 306–312. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00489.x. 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00489.x.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Magnus and Hull, Susan (2006). "Interactions between fangblennies (Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos) and their potential victims: fooling the model rather than the client?". Marine Biology 148 (1): 889–897. doi:10.1007/s00227-005-0118-y.

Further reading

Wikispecies has information related to: Labroides dimidiatus
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Labroides dimidiatus.