Bluestreak cleaner wrasse

Last updated

Bluestreak cleaner wrasse
Labrido limpiador comun (Labroides dimidiatus), mar Rojo, Egipto, 2023-04-17, DD 90.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Labriformes
Family: Labridae
Genus: Labroides
Species:
L. dimidiatus
Binomial name
Labroides dimidiatus
(Valenciennes, 1839)
Synonyms [2]
  • Cossyphus dimidiatusValenciennes, 1839
  • Labroides paradiseusBleeker, 1851
  • Callyodon ikanMontrouzier, 1857
  • Labroides bicincta Saville-Kent, 1893
  • Labroides caeruleolineatusFowler, 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. [3] [4] [5] It is also notable for having potentially passed the mirror test, though this is not without controversy. [6] [7] [8] [9]

Contents

Description

This is a small wrasse, averaging 10 cm (3.9 in) long, at most 14 cm (5.5 in). It can be recognized thanks to a wide longitudinal black stripe running along the side and eye; the back and the stomach are white (sometimes slightly yellowish). This white part changes to a bright blue on the front of the animal, while the black band widens at the tail. The young are black with an electric blue line.

A genetic analysis of L. dimidiatus revealed the population fell into two monophyletic clades, with Indian Ocean populations generally having different stripe widths to western Pacific fishes. The Japanese cleaner wrasses, though, fell within the same group as Indian Ocean fish, despite differing in appearance, and both clades overlap around Papua New Guinea. [5] Two closely related cleaner wrasse species, Labroides pectoralis and Labroides bicolor , were grouped inside the L. dimidiatus clade, so the bluestreak cleaner wrasse may in fact be polyphyletic, incorporating several species. [5]

Distribution

The bluestreak cleaner wrasse is found on coral reefs in the tropics from the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to the western Pacific (including Papua New Guinea, Japan, Fiji, and French Polynesia). [5] It was first recorded from the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve north of New Zealand in 2015, after researchers examined hundreds of hours of unused documentary film footage. [10] [11]

Cleaning

Drawing XRF-Labroides dimidiatus.png
Drawing

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. [12] 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, [13] 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.[ citation needed ] Other fish that engage in such cleaning behavior include goby fish ( Elacatinus spp.) [14] The bluestreak cleaner wrasse is known to clean balaenopteridae, chondrichthyans, homaridae, octopodidae, and dermochelyidae.

"Fake" cleaner wrasse but true sabre-tooth blenny: Aspidontus taeniatus NiseKGP.jpg
"Fake" cleaner wrasse but true sabre-tooth blenny: Aspidontus taeniatus

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 or skin from bigger fish rather than rid them of parasites. 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. [15]

In different regions, the bluestreak cleaner wrasse displays various degrees of dependency on clients' ectoparasites as a primary food source. In tidal environments such as the Great Barrier Reef, the bluestreak cleaner wrasse is a facultative cleaner that feeds more on corals than on fish clientele. [16] Juvenile bluestreak cleaners are seen to bite their clients more often than the adults within that region, thus changing the dynamic of the known mutualistic relationship. [16] However, in regions where the bluestreak cleaners are solely dependent on clients' parasites, fish who have access to cleaning services have better body condition than those without cleaner access. [17] In the Marsa Bareika of the Ras Mohamed Nature Reserve, Egypt, the bluestreak cleaner wrasse live in specific sectors of the shallow reefs and are shown to rely on ectoparasites from species such as the brown surgeonfish and white belly damselfish. [17] In this region, fish that visit cleaner wrasses have lower antibody responses than those without cleaner access, suggesting that cleaner access may decrease the need for active immunity. [17]

Reproduction

Cleaner wrasse males defend specific living territories from other males in which they are able to have control over the females in those territories. When the dominant male no longer exists in that territory, one of the larger females is able to change sexes to take control over that territory. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrasse</span> Family of marine fishes

The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 81 genera, which are divided into 9 subgroups or tribes. They are typically small, most of them less than 20 cm (7.9 in) long, although the largest, the humphead wrasse, can measure up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft). They are efficient carnivores, feeding on a wide range of small invertebrates. Many smaller wrasses follow the feeding trails of larger fish, picking up invertebrates disturbed by their passing. Juveniles of some representatives of the genera Bodianus, Epibulus, Cirrhilabrus, Oxycheilinus, and Paracheilinus hide among the tentacles of the free-living mushroom corals and Heliofungia actiniformis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">False cleanerfish</span> Species of fish

The false cleanerfish is a species of combtooth blenny, a mimic that copies both the dance and appearance of Labroides dimidiatus, a similarly colored species of cleaner wrasse. It likely mimics that species to avoid predation, as well as to occasionally bite the fins of its victims rather than consume parasites. Most veiled attacks occur on juvenile fish, as adults that have been attacked in the past may avoid or even attack A. taeniatus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blenniiformes</span> Order of fishes

Blenny is a common name for many types of fish, including several families of percomorph marine, brackish, and some freshwater fish sharing similar morphology and behaviour. Six families are considered "true blennies", grouped under the order Blenniiformes; its members are referred to as blenniiformids. About 151 genera and nearly 900 species have been described within the order. The order was formerly classified as a suborder of the Perciformes but the 5th Edition of Fishes of the World divided the Perciformes into a number of new orders and the Blenniiformes were placed in the percomorph clade Ovalentaria alongside the such taxa as Cichliformes, Mugiliformes and Gobiesociformes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mirror test</span> Animal self-awareness test

The mirror test—sometimes called the mark test, mirror self-recognition (MSR) test, red spot technique, or rouge test—is a behavioral technique developed in 1970 by American psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr. as an attempt to determine whether an animal possesses the ability of visual self-recognition. The MSR test is the traditional method for attempting to measure physiological and cognitive self-awareness. However, agreement has been reached that animals can be self-aware in ways not measured by the mirror test, such as distinguishing between their own and others' songs and scents, and being aware of their own bodies, while humans have abnormally good vision, and thus intelligence that is highly visual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleaning station</span> Location where aquatic life congregate to be cleaned

A cleaning station is a location where aquatic life congregate to be cleaned by smaller beings. Such stations exist in both freshwater and marine environments, and are used by animals including fish, sea turtles and hippos.

Cheating is a term used in behavioral ecology and ethology to describe behavior whereby organisms receive a benefit at the cost of other organisms. Cheating is common in many mutualistic and altruistic relationships. A cheater is an individual who does not cooperate but can potentially gain the benefit from others cooperating. Cheaters are also those who selfishly use common resources to maximize their individual fitness at the expense of a group. Natural selection favors cheating, but there are mechanisms to regulate it. The stress gradient hypothesis states that facilitation, cooperation or mutualism should be more common in stressful environments, while cheating, competition or parasitism are common in benign environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleaner shrimp</span> Species of crustacean

Cleaner shrimp is a common name for a number of swimming decapod crustaceans that clean other organisms of parasites. Most are found in the families Hippolytidae and Palaemonidae, though the families Alpheidae, Pandalidae, and Stenopodidae each contain at least one species of cleaner shrimp. The term "cleaner shrimp" is sometimes used more specifically for the family Hippolytidae and the genus Lysmata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleaner fish</span> Fish that remove parasites and dead tissue from other species

Cleaner fish are fish that show a specialist feeding strategy by providing a service to other species, referred to as clients, by removing dead skin, ectoparasites, and infected tissue from the surface or gill chambers. This example of cleaning symbiosis represents mutualism and cooperation behaviour, an ecological interaction that benefits both parties involved. However, the cleaner fish may consume mucus or tissue, thus creating a form of parasitism called cheating. The client animals are typically fish of a different species, but can also be aquatic reptiles, mammals, or octopuses. 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. Similar behaviour is found in other groups of animals, such as cleaner shrimps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant moray</span> Species of fish

The giant moray is a species of moray eel and a species of marine fish in the family Muraenidae. In terms of body mass, it is the largest moray eel; however, the slender giant moray is the largest in terms of body length.

<i>Elacatinus</i> Genus of fishes

Elacatinus is a genus of small marine gobies, often known collectively as the neon gobies. Although only one species, E. oceanops, is technically the "neon goby", because of their similar appearance, other members of the genus are generally labeled neon gobies, as well. Except for a single East Pacific species, all reside in warmer parts of the West Atlantic, including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. They are known for engaging in symbiosis with other marine creatures by providing them cleaning service that consists of getting rid of ectoparasites on their bodies. In return, Elacatinus species obtain their primary source of food, ectoparasites.

<i>Elacatinus puncticulatus</i> Species of fish

Elacatinus puncticulatus is a species of goby from the eastern central Pacific Ocean, where it is found on reefs from the Gulf of California to Ecuador. This species occurs at depths ranging from 1 to 21m, and usually in association with the sea urchin Eucidaris thouarsii. The size of the goby varies depending on sex, with females being typically smaller than males, and their geographical location as well as their role as a cleaner goby also has impacts on their morphology. Due to their bright coloration and lack of aggression, the species is commonly found in the aquarium trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fish intelligence</span> Intellectual capacity of fish

Fish intelligence is "the resultant of the process of acquiring, storing in memory, retrieving, combining, comparing, and using in new contexts information and conceptual skills" as it applies to fish. Due to a common perception amongst researchers that Teleost fish are "primitive" compared to mammals and birds, there has been much less research into fish cognition than into those types of animals, and much remains unknown about fish cognition, though evidence of complex navigational skills such as cognitive maps is increasing.

<i>Naso minor</i> Species of fish

Naso minor, the blackspine unicornfish, slender unicornfish, lesser unicornfish or pony unicornfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs. This species is found in the Indo-Pacific region.

<i>Aspidontus tractus</i> Species of fish

Aspidontus tractus is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean. It reaches the length of 10 centimetres (3.9 in) TL. It mimics Labroides dimidiatus, the cleaner wrasse, and feeds on the fins of fish that mistake it for the cleaner wrasse. Eggs are laid in clusters below the surface.

Plagiotremus ewaensis, the Ewa blenny, Ewa fangblenny or the blue-stripe blenny, is a reef fish belonging to the Blenniidae family. This species of combtooth blenny can be found in coral reefs and is an endemic species to the Hawaiian Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bluestriped fangblenny</span> Species of fish

Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos, commonly called the bluestriped fangblenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. This species reaches a length of 12 centimetres (4.7 in) SL. It is also known as the bluestriped blenny, bluestriped sabretooth blenny, blunt-nose blenny, cleaner mimic, tube-worm blenny or the two-stripe blenny. They hide in deserted worm tubes or other small holes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleaning symbiosis</span> Mutually beneficial association between individuals of two species

Cleaning symbiosis is a mutually beneficial association between individuals of two species, where one removes and eats parasites and other materials from the surface of the other. Cleaning symbiosis is well-known among marine fish, where some small species of cleaner fish, notably wrasses but also species in other genera, are specialised to feed almost exclusively by cleaning larger fish and other marine animals. Other cleaning symbioses exist between birds and mammals, and in other groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawaiian cleaner wrasse</span> Species of fish

The Hawaiian cleaner wrasse or golden cleaner wrasse, is a species of wrasse found in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. The fish is endemic to Hawaii. These cleaner fish inhabit coral reefs, setting up a territory referred to as a cleaning station. They obtain a diet of small crustacean parasites by removing them from other reef fish in a cleaning symbiosis.

<i>Labroides bicolor</i> Species of fish

Labroides bicolor is a species of wrasse endemic to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. It is known by various names including bicolor cleanerfish, bicolor(ed) cleaner wrasse, cleaner wrasse, two-color cleaner wrasse and yellow diesel wrasse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nichola Raihani</span> British psychologist

Nichola Jayne Raihani is a British psychologist who is a Professor of Evolution and Behaviour at University College London. Her research considers the evolution of cooperation in nature. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2019. Her first book, The Social Instinct, was released in 2021.

References

  1. ↑ Shea, S.; Liu, M. (2010). "Labroides dimidiatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2010: e.T187396A8523800. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T187396A8523800.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). Labroides "Species in the genus 'Labroides'". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  3. ↑ Côté, I.M. (2000). "Evolution and ecology of cleaning symbioses in the sea". Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review. 38 (1): 311–355.
  4. ↑ Johnson, M.L. (2012). "High street cleaners". Biodiversity Science. Archived from the original on 2022-01-25. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  5. 1 2 3 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. 33: 223–233. doi:10.1007/s00338-013-1093-2. S2CID   17804061.
  6. ↑ Kobayashi, Taiga; Kohda, Masanori; Awata, Satoshi; Bshary, Redouan; Sogawa, Shumpei (2024-09-11). "Cleaner fish with mirror self-recognition capacity precisely realize their body size based on their mental image". Scientific Reports. 14 (1): 20202. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-70138-7. ISSN   2045-2322.
  7. ↑ Kohda, Masanori; Bshary, Redouan; Kubo, Naoki; Awata, Satoshi; Sowersby, Will; Kawasaka, Kento; Kobayashi, Taiga; Sogawa, Shumpei (2023-02-14). "Cleaner fish recognize self in a mirror via self-face recognition like humans". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 120 (7): e2208420120. Bibcode:2023PNAS..12008420K. doi:10.1073/pnas.2208420120. ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   9963968 . PMID   36745814.
  8. ↑ Kohda, Masanori; Hotta, Takashi; Takeyama, Tomohiro; Awata, Satoshi; Tanaka, Hirokazu; Asai, Jun-ya; Jordan, Alex L. (2019-02-07). "If a fish can pass the mark test, what are the implications for consciousness and self-awareness testing in animals?". PLOS Biology. 17 (2): e3000021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000021 . ISSN   1545-7885. PMC   6366756 . PMID   30730878.
  9. ↑ Devlin, Hannah (2019-02-07). "Scientists find some fish can 'recognise themselves' in mirror". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-09-11.
  10. ↑ Liggins, Libby; Sweatman, Jenny Ann; Trnski, Thomas; Duffy, Clinton A. J.; Eddy, Tyler D.; Aguirre, J. David (2020). "Natural history footage provides new reef fish biodiversity information for a pristine but rarely visited archipelago". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 3159. Bibcode:2020NatSR..10.3159L. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-60136-w . PMC   7035361 . PMID   32081990.
  11. ↑ Hancock, Farah (16 March 2020). "New species accidentally discovered on film". Newsroom. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  12. ↑ Froese, Rainer. "Labroides dimidiatus". FishBase. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  13. ↑ 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. S2CID   53299983.
  14. ↑ 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" (PDF). Journal of Zoology. 276 (3): 306–312. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00489.x.
  15. ↑ Johnson, Magnus & 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. Bibcode:2006MarBi.148..889J. doi:10.1007/s00227-005-0118-y. S2CID   85772684.
  16. 1 2 Dunkley, Katie; Ward, Ashley J. W.; Perkins, Sarah E.; Cable, Jo (March 2020). "To clean or not to clean: Cleaning mutualism breakdown in a tidal environment". Ecology and Evolution. 10 (6): 3043–3054. Bibcode:2020EcoEv..10.3043D. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6120 . ISSN   2045-7758. PMC   7083704 . PMID   32211175. S2CID   214041635.
  17. 1 2 3 Ros, Albert F.H.; Lusa, Jeanne; Meyer, Meghann; Soares, Marta; Oliveira, Rui F.; Brossard, Michel; Bshary, Redouan (January 2011). "Does access to the bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus affect indicators of stress and health in resident reef fishes in the Red Sea?". Hormones and Behavior. 59 (1): 151–158. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2010.11.006. hdl: 10400.12/1245 . PMID   21087610. S2CID   18666960.
  18. ↑ Kuwamura, Tetsuo; Tanaka, Naomi; Nakashima, Yasuhiro; Karino, Kenji; Sakai, Yoichi (May 2002). "Reversed Sex-Change in the Protogynous Reef Fish Labroides dimidiatus". Ethology. 108 (5): 443–450. Bibcode:2002Ethol.108..443K. doi:10.1046/j.1439-0310.2002.00791.x. ISSN   0179-1613.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.