Description
Also known as Bluecleaner Wrasse, Bluestreak, Bluestreak Cleanerfish, Bridled Beauty, Bridled Beauty Cleanerfish, Cleanerfish, Cleaner Wrasse, Common Cleaner Wrasse, Dental-floss Cleanerfish, Gadfly Fish, Haremic Cleaner Wrasse, Striped Cleaner Wrasse.
Found singly, pairs, or in schools, at fish cleaning station, over inner lagoons, reef flats, and seaward reefs, rich in coral growth.
They feed on mucus, parasites, and dead skin.
Length - 14cm
Depth - 1-40m
Widespread Indo-Pacific
All cleaner wrasses start their lives as females. In a group of 6-8 cleaner wrasses there is but one male, the rest are females or juveniles. The strongest female changes its sex when the male dies, an occurrence known as sequential hermaphroditism.
Cleaner wrasses sleep in crevices between rocks or corals, covered in a slime layer that is secreted at dusk. In the morning these can be seen floating on the surface.
Cleaner wrasses are usually found around cleaning stations. The bigger fishes recognise them as cleaner fish by looking at their colour and movement patterns, and subsequently stiffen to be cleaned. This is a mutualist relationship that provides food and protection for the wrasse, and considerable health benefits for the other fish. Ref: https://www.fishbase.se/summary/5459
0 comments