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We already know that the coral reef is an ecosystem rich in life forms and colors.

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It is also an environment full of complex interspecies relationships.

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An example of such interesting relationships are the "beauty salons" of coral reefs.

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By this I mean the fact that some organisms nurse other organisms.

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Today we will focus on one such species, namely the Bluestreak cleaner wrasse.

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Relationships of the Bluestreak cleaner wrasse are so fascinating that it has been appreciated by film producers.

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Who has seen the "Shark tales" - knows what I'm talking about.

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The role of a small wrasse is certainly appreciated by every aquarist who takes care of a reef tank.

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In the wild, wrasses form "cleaning stations" located at a fixed point on a coral reef.

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The wrasse cleans the fish of external parasites and dead tissue.

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It nurses entire body of its client, including the oral cavity.

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At the Gdynia Aquarium, we have watched with respect and admiration many times

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how a 10-cm wrasse handles the Giant grouper.

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The grouper patiently waited with his mouth open as the helper removed food from his teeth,

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and then tilt the gill cover, encouraging further care of the gills.

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But why exactly does the wrasse provide such services?

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The ecological relationship between wrasses and their clients can be described as a mutualistic relationship,

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that is, one in which both species benefit from cooperation.

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The wrasse brand ensures his safety at work,

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and he himself can feed on various prey, such as mucus from the body of his clients, ectoparasites, or leftover food in the mouth.

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Drooling tongue with gastric coating.

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Gross losses and remnants of under-chewed plankton!

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The health benefits of his clients are obvious.

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By regularly removing parasites from the environment, wrasse contribute to reducing their number and size,

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thereby affecting the health of organisms on the coral reef.

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Interestingly, like humans, wrasses care about their reputation.

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In the presence of other fish, the effectiveness of the wrasse in removing parasites is greater.

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In the end, it could settle for the tasty mucus from the surface of its client's body.

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In real beauty salons, such treatments would be… suspicious.

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When there are potential "clients" around the "salon", the wrasse tries to show "professionalism".

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It has been experimentally proven that when these potential "clients" see that the wrasse is cheating, 

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they avoid contact with him.

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But again - by analogy with the human world - there are deceptions here too.

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The brand of the sanitary wrasse is used by another species that closely resembles it.

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Characteristic oblong shape of the body,

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with a dark stripe running down its length,

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and a blue note in the tail part of the fish, took on the False cleanerfish.

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The False cleanerfish usually feeds on the eggs of other fish.

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However, this form of foarging is associated with high risk.

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Eventually, it can be spotted and chased away quite quickly.

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It is sometimes difficult for customers of the wrasse to distinguish it from the real employees of the cleaning station.

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Therefore, smaller individuals take the easy way out.

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Using the phenomenon of mimicry, i.e. similarity to our wrasse,

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they safely approach the fish and bite off small fragments of their fins.

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Then they quickly retreat to a safe hiding place.

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Despite the deceptive similarity of these two species, not all fish can be deceived and some chase the intruder away.

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If you don't have enough interesting facts about the wrasse - I'll add one more.

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The phenomenon of sex change occurs in wrasses, just like in clownfish - only in reverse.

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In the case of the wrasse, we are talking about the phenomenon of protogyny.

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So the phenomenon in which all individuals mature as females.

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The dominant female then changes sex.

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Wrasse cleaning stations may just consist of a dominant male and his harem.

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I'm going to throw in one more curiosity for dessert.

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Wrasse passed the so-called. mirror test.

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It is a test that examines self-awareness in humans and animals.

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More recent research suggests that wrasses can remember their image and recognize themselves in the picture.

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Such information may have implications for our perception of the cognitive abilities of fish.

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Although humans are undeniably more complex organisms,

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the many interspecies relationships of fish remind us of what our society's rules were built on.

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It also turns out that the brand and professionalism also count on coral reefs.

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And the world of fish may be closer to us than we have assumed so far.