Cleaning station

When cleaning symbiosis symbiotic partnership between different species is called, in which one, usually smaller, the larger species of external parasites, skin impurities and dead skin parts freed. Cleaning symbioses occur mainly in coral reefs, but also of other marine habitats, from freshwater and terrestrial species known.

Herodotus reported that in Egypt, small birds, meant was probably the crocodile keeper, looking at the mouths of crocodiles for food. Could be proven so today but did not. It has been proven a cleaning symbiosis only in the 1930s as the Neongrundel ( Elacatinus oceanops ) was in the Dry Tortugas located in Florida island observed and photographed in this activity.

Cleaner fish

The most common cleaning symbiosis is exercised by the Putzerlippfischen ( Labrichthyini ) of the species of the genera Labropsis and Larabicus only as juveniles from the ordinary cleaner wrasse ( Labroides dimidiatus ) and the other species of the genus Labroides life.

Communication

Requirement of a cleaning symbiosis is the development of a communication system between the cleaner fish and their "customers". Cleaner fish are not taboo for predators and are eaten by them when they have misunderstood the behavior of a hunting predatory fish.

The fish show through the spreading of the fins, the opening of the mouth and gill cover, with some species also by a color change or a trance -like rigidity, their interest in cleansing. The cleaner fish come together at swim against the "customer " their coloration with a striking vertical stripes and a characteristic swimming behavior to detect and then locate the body surface, for large fish and the mouth interior and the inner gills room, for parasites (mainly crustaceans) and dead skin particles from. The "customers" signal by twitching or other signals when they have had enough.

In the Caribbean, where there are no Putzerlippfische, take gobies from the genus Elacatinus this function. They show a very similar Putzerlippfischen the blue and yellow color pattern that probably cirkumglobal uniform is used to detect the cleaner fish.

Forms of grooming behavior

With the exception of the nomadic between his revier owning Damselfish " customers " roving nomad Putzerlippfischs ( Diproctacanthus xanthurus ) are the Putzerlippfische site fidelity and maintain solid plaster stations to which their "customers " come to make brushing.

Other Lippfischarten, butterflyfish and angelfish are active as juveniles as a cleaner. The Barber butterflyfish ( Johnrandallia nigrirostris ) performs these duties from live long and leads through mass cleaning operations that require more than a hundred barber Butterflyfish hundreds of "customers" use.

Another form of cleaner behavior, in which not many "customers" are behind each other, " served ", but a " major customer ", which has a particularly large body surface is cleaned, practicing the remora ( Echeneidae ). Clean large fish, such as large sharks, manta rays or whales, have converted to a holdfast first dorsal fin, usually attach to the underside of the large animal and can go along by them. Remora always also eat zooplankton or catch small parts of the prey, unless the big fish is predacious.

Evolutionary origin

All of cleaner fish with the exception of the remora have evolved from Substratabweidern. Your ancestors ate small animals from rocky or coral substrate of their habitat and merely changed the substrate. Instead of solid surfaces on the bottom of shallow seas graze, the slimy body surfaces of other fish are searched for food from cleaner wrasses. The closest relatives of the remora, however, are medium-sized and large predatory fish, such as the sting or the dolphinfish.

Cleaner shrimp

Cleaning symbioses also be exercised by different shrimp species, especially those of the genus Lysmata, partner of shrimp ( Pontoniinae ), dancing shrimp ( Rhynchocinetidae ) and scissors shrimp ( Stenopodidae ). Most cleaner shrimps can be recognized by white antennas.

Cleaning symbioses between land animals

A well-known plaster symbiosis between land animals is the relationship between the star of the genus Oxpecker ( Buphagus ) and large African grazing animals like the African buffalo or rhino.