Cleaner Wrasse

Cleaner Wrasse
Common cleaner fish ( Labroides dimidiatus )
Systematics
Spinefish (Acanthopterygii) Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae) Order : Labriformes Family : Wrasse (Labridae) Subfamily : Junker Wrasse (Julidinae) Tribe : Cleaner Wrasse
Scientific name
Labrichthyini

Cleaner wrasse clean the knife wrasse Novaculichthys taeniourus

The cleaner wrasse (Labrichthyini) are a tribe in the family of wrasse (Labridae), which includes five genera and 14 species . (Occasionally other wrasse, e.g. Suezichthys species, also clean . W. Beebe even mentions cleaning of a scarin (sea parrot) by Labrus mixtus .) Cleaner wrasse only live in the tropical Indo-Pacific . In the Caribbean , their ecological niche is occupied by cleaner gobies ( Elacatinus ).

behavior

Cleaner wrasse maintain cleaning stations where a male lives with a harem of three to six females. Other fish come here to be cleaned of parasites and dead skin by the cleaner fish . The drawing of the cleaner fish with the conspicuous longitudinal stripe is a distinguishing feature for other fish.

Cleaner wrasse in the mouth of a manta ray

Even predatory fish are completely peaceful at the cleaning stations, wait for their turn and let the wrasse swim into their mouths and gill cavities so that they can clean them there. With slight movements, the "customers" signal that they have had enough and that the cleaner fish have to leave their body cavities.

While the common cleaner fish ( Labroides dimidiatus ) and its fellow species maintain this diet throughout their lives, the species of the genera Labropsis and Larabicus only clean when they are young and later feed on coral polyps . The nomad cleaner wrasse ( Diproctacanthus xanthurus ) does not have a permanent cleaning station, but moves around and cleans damselfish (Pomacentridae), which have no opportunity to come to the cleaning stations, because they live in small areas of a few square meters and this because of the territorial claims of the neighbors can not leave.

Systematics

Phylogenetically , the cleaner wrasse belong to the Junker wrasse (Julidinae). The genus Labrichthys is the sister group of all other Labrichthyini. Diproctacanthus is the sister species of Labropsis , Larabicus that of the genus Labroides .

Cleaner Wrasse (Labrichthyini)	NN     NN    Diproctacanthus      Labropsis   NN    Labroides      Larabicus      Labrichthys

species

Hawaiian cleaner fish ( Labroides phthirophagus )

• Diproctacanthus Bleeker 1862
  • Nomad cleaner wrasse ( Diproctacanthus xanthurus (Bleeker 1856))
• Labrichthys Bleeker 1854
  • Fringed cleaner fish ( Labrichthys unilineatus (Guichenot 1847))
• Labroides Bleeker 1851
  • Bicolour cleaner fish ( Labroides bicolor Fowler & Bean 1928)
  • Common cleaner fish ( Labroides dimidiatus (Valenciennes 1839))
  • Breast spot cleaner fish ( Labroides pectoralis Randall & Springer 1975)
  • Hawaiian cleaner fish ( Labroides phthirophagus Randall 1958)
  • Red-lipped cleaner fish ( Labroides rubrolabiatus Randall 1958)
• Labropsis Schmidt 1931
  • Allen's cleaner fish ( Labropsis alleni Randall 1981)
  • Southern cleaner fish ( Labropsis australis Randall 1981)
  • Northern cleaner fish ( Labropsis manabei Schmidt 1931)
  • Micronesia cleaner fish ( Labropsis micronesica Randall 1981)
  • Polynesia cleaner fish ( Labropsis polynesica Randall 1981)
  • Wedgetail cleaner fish ( Labropsis xanthonota Randall 1981)
• Larabicus Randall & Springer 1973
  • Red Sea cleaner fish ( Larabicus quadrilineatus (Rüppell 1835))

imitation

The false cleaner fish ( Aspidontus taeniatus ) belongs to the saber-toothed slime fish . It imitates the common cleaner fish ( Labroides dimidiatus ) in shape, color and swimming style. If a fish approaches it to be cleaned, it bites off pieces of fins and skin instead.

literature

• Hans A. Baensch , Helmut Debelius , Horst Moosleitner: The common care of invertebrates and tropical marine fish in the aquarium. Mergus, Melle 1997, ISBN 3-88244-110-0 ( Sea Water Atlas. Volume 1).
• Ewald Lieske, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish of the world. Year, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-86132-112-2 .
• Rudie H. Kuiter , Helmut Debelius: Atlas of the marine fish. Kosmos, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-440-09562-2 .

Web links

• Florian Rötzer : Does a little fish have self-confidence? , Telepolis , October 13, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ MW Westneat, ME Alfaro: Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of the reef fish family Labridae. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. No. 36, 2005, pp. 370-390