Cleaners are fish that provide services to other fish species by removing dead skin and ectoparasites. This cleansing symbiosis is an example of mutualism, an ecological interaction that benefits both parties involved. However, cleaner fish can sometimes deceive and consume mucus or tissue, thus creating a form of parasitism. A wide variety of fish including cork fish, cichlid, catfish, pipefish, and gobies display cleaning behavior. Similar behavior is found in other animal groups, such as shrimp cleansers.
Cleaners advertise their services in striking colors, often featuring a brilliant blue line that stretches across the body. This adaptation has evolved independently on different species of fish cleanser, making it an example of convergent evolution. Other fish species, called mimics, mimic the behavior and phenotype of cleaner fish to gain access to the fish's network of fish. This is another example of convergent evolution.
Video Cleaner fish
Diversity of cleaner fish
Marine fish
The best known cleanser is a cleaner algae than the genus Labroides found on coral reefs in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. This small fish keeps what is called a cleaning station where other fish, known as the host, gather and perform special movements to attract the attention of cleaner fish. Remarkably, these small cleansers safely clean up large predatory fish that should eat small fish like this.
While they derive most of their nutrients by removing ectoparasites, the cleaner fish also feed on the fish mucus and tissue of the client, as this food source has a greater nutritional value. However there is a risk of terminating the cleansing interactions if the cleaners are too aggressive, removing too much mucus and tissue. Therefore, cleansers seek balance in feeding between ectoparasites and mucus or tissues.
Cleaning behavior has been observed in a number of other fish groups. Neon gobies of the genera Gobiosoma and Elacatinus provide cleaning services similar to cleaner rivets, although this time on coral in the western Atlantic, provides a good example of convergent evolution. In contrast to cleaner limestone, they also eat a variety of small animals as well as cleaner fish, and are generally good at aquariums. However, cleaning the Caribbean goby ( Elacatinus evelynae ) is happy to eat the scales and mucus from the host when ectoparasites that normally eat them are scarce, making the relationship somewhat less than mutually beneficial. Symbiosis is not damaged because the abundance of parasites varies seasonally and spatially, and the overall benefit for larger fish exceeds cheating on the smaller parts.
Brackish water fish
An interesting example of the cleansing symbiosis has been observed between the two branched cichlids of the genus Etroplus from South Asia. Small species Etroplus maculatus is a cleaning fish, and much larger Etroplus letterensis is the host that receives a cleaning service.
Freshwater fish
Cleaning is especially less common in freshwater habitats than in marine habitats. One of the few cleaning examples is raphael juvenile Raphael who cleans fish Hoplias cf. malabaricus .
Maps Cleaner fish
Mimic
Mimic species have evolved body shapes, patterns, and colors that mimic other species to gain a competitive edge. One of the most studied mimicry examples of coral reefs is the relationship between aggressive moods of Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos (bluestriped fangblenny) and wetted wrasse Labroides dimidiatus model. By appearing as L. dimidiatus , P. rhinorhynchos is able to approach and then feed on the network and fish scales of clients while posing as cleaners.
The presence of a cleaner expression, P. rhinorhynchos , has a negative impact on successful feeding of the L \ dimidiatus net model . P. rhinorhynchos eats by eating the network and the client's fish scales, making the client's fish much more careful while at the cleaning station. More aggressive imitations have a greater negative impact on the search rate and the success of cleaner fish. When emulating appears in higher densities relative to cleansers, there is a significant decrease in the success rate of cleaner fish. The effects of imitating ratios/models are susceptible to dilution, whereby an increase in client fish allows both mimics and models to have more access to clients, thus limiting the negative effects that mimic on successful feeding models.
See also
- Doctor fish, fish that provide cleaning services for humans.
- Mutual altruism
- Social care, cleaning services are offered between members of the same species.
References
External links
Media linked to fish Net on Wikimedia Commons
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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