Cleaner fish

Two bluestreak cleaner wrasses removing dead skin and external parasites from a potato grouper
Video of bluestreak cleaner wrasse cleaning the gills of an elongate surgeonfish

Cleaner fish are fish that show a specialist feeding strategy[1] by providing a service to other species, referred to as clients,[2] by removing dead skin, ectoparasites, and infected tissue from the surface or gill chambers.[2] This example of cleaning symbiosis represents mutualism and cooperation behaviour,[3] an ecological interaction that benefits both parties involved. However, the cleaner fish may consume mucus or tissue, thus creating a form of parasitism[4] called cheating. The client animals are typically fish of a different species,[3] but can also be aquatic reptiles (sea turtles and marine iguana), mammals (manatees and whales), or octopuses.[5][6][7] A wide variety of fish including wrasse, cichlids, catfish, pipefish, lumpsuckers, and gobies display cleaning behaviors across the globe in fresh, brackish, and marine waters but specifically concentrated in the tropics due to high parasite density.[2] Similar behaviour is found in other groups of animals, such as cleaner shrimps.

There are two types of cleaner fish, obligate full time cleaners and facultative part time cleaners[1] where different strategies occur based on resources and local abundance of fish.[1] Cleaning behaviour takes place in pelagic waters as well as designated locations called cleaner stations.[8] Cleaner fish interaction durations and memories of reoccurring clients are influenced by the neuroendocrine system of the fish, involving hormones arginine vasotocin, Isotocin and serotonin.[3]

Conspicuous coloration is a method used by some cleaner fish, where they often display a brilliant blue stripe that spans the length of the body.[9] Other species of fish, called mimics, imitate the behavior and phenotype of cleaner fish to gain access to client fish tissue.

The specialized feeding behaviour of cleaner fish has become a valuable resource in salmon aquaculture in Atlantic Canada, Scotland, Iceland and Norway[10] for prevention of sea lice outbreaks[2] which benefits the economy and environment by minimizing the use of chemical delousers. Specifically cultured for this job are lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) and ballan wrasse (Labrus bergeylta).[11] The most common parasites that cleaner fish feed on are gnathiidae and copepod species.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d Dunkley, Katie; Cable, Jo; Perkins, Sarah E. (2018-02-01). "The selective cleaning behaviour of juvenile blue-headed wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum) in the Caribbean". Behavioural Processes. 147: 5–12. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2017.12.005. ISSN 0376-6357. PMID 29247694.
  2. ^ a b c d Morado, Nadia; Mota, Paulo G.; Soares, Marta C. (2019). "The Rock Cook Wrasse Centrolabrus exoletus Aims to Clean". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 7. doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00182. ISSN 2296-701X.
  3. ^ a b c Soares, Marta C. (2017). "The Neurobiology of Mutualistic Behavior: The Cleanerfish Swims into the Spotlight". Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 11: 191. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00191. PMC 5651018. PMID 29089876.
  4. ^ Gingins, Simon; Werminghausen, Johanna; Johnstone, Rufus A.; Grutter, Alexandra S.; Bshary, Redouan (2013-06-22). "Power and temptation cause shifts between exploitation and cooperation in a cleaner wrasse mutualism". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 280 (1761): 20130553. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.0553. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 3652443. PMID 23615288.
  5. ^ Grutter, A. S. (2002). "Cleaning symbioses from the parasites' perspective". Parasitology. 124 (7): 65–81. doi:10.1017/S0031182002001488. ISSN 0031-1820. PMID 12396217. S2CID 26816332.
  6. ^ Sazima, Cristina; Grossman, Alice; Sazima, Ivan (2010-02-05). "Turtle cleaners: reef fishes foraging on epibionts of sea turtles in the tropical Southwestern Atlantic, with a summary of this association type". Neotropical Ichthyology. 8 (1): 187–192. doi:10.1590/S1679-62252010005000003. ISSN 1982-0224.
  7. ^ "Manatee gets 'haircut' from gill fish". Daily Telegraph. 2010-02-26. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  8. ^ Helfman, Gene S. (1997). The diversity of fishes. Collette, Bruce B., Facey, Douglas E. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Science. ISBN 0865422567. OCLC 36051279.
  9. ^ Cheney, Karen L.; Grutter, Alexandra S.; Blomberg, Simon P.; Marshall, N. Justin (2009). "Blue and Yellow Signal Cleaning Behavior in Coral Reef Fishes". Current Biology. 19 (15): 1283–1287. Bibcode:2009CBio...19.1283C. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.06.028. PMID 19592250. S2CID 15354868.
  10. ^ "Cleaner fish – what do they do?". Lochduart. 2017-06-08. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  11. ^ Brooker, Adam J; Papadopoulou, Athina; Gutierrez, Carolina; Rey, Sonia; Davie, Andrew; Migaud, Herve (2018-09-29). "Sustainable production and use of cleaner fish for the biological control of sea lice: recent advances and current challenges". Veterinary Record. 183 (12): 383. doi:10.1136/vr.104966. hdl:1893/27595. ISSN 0042-4900. PMID 30061113. S2CID 51871138.