We already know that the coral reef is an ecosystem rich in life forms and colors.
It is also an environment full of complex interspecies relationships.
An example of such interesting relationships are the "beauty salons" of coral reefs.
By this I mean the fact that some organisms nurse other organisms.
Today we will focus on one such species, namely the Bluestreak cleaner wrasse.
Relationships of the Bluestreak cleaner wrasse are so fascinating that it has been appreciated by film producers.
Who has seen the "Shark tales" - knows what I'm talking about.
The role of a small wrasse is certainly appreciated by every aquarist who takes care of a reef tank.
In the wild, wrasses form "cleaning stations" located at a fixed point on a coral reef.
The wrasse cleans the fish of external parasites and dead tissue.
It nurses entire body of its client, including the oral cavity.
At the Gdynia Aquarium, we have watched with respect and admiration many times
how a 10-cm wrasse handles the Giant grouper.
The grouper patiently waited with his mouth open as the helper removed food from his teeth,
and then tilt the gill cover, encouraging further care of the gills.
But why exactly does the wrasse provide such services?
The ecological relationship between wrasses and their clients can be described as a mutualistic relationship,
that is, one in which both species benefit from cooperation.
The wrasse brand ensures his safety at work,
and he himself can feed on various prey, such as mucus from the body of his clients, ectoparasites, or leftover food in the mouth.
Drooling tongue with gastric coating.
Gross losses and remnants of under-chewed plankton!
The health benefits of his clients are obvious.
By regularly removing parasites from the environment, wrasse contribute to reducing their number and size,
thereby affecting the health of organisms on the coral reef.
Interestingly, like humans, wrasses care about their reputation.
In the presence of other fish, the effectiveness of the wrasse in removing parasites is greater.
In the end, it could settle for the tasty mucus from the surface of its client's body.
In real beauty salons, such treatments would be… suspicious.
When there are potential "clients" around the "salon", the wrasse tries to show "professionalism".
It has been experimentally proven that when these potential "clients" see that the wrasse is cheating,
they avoid contact with him.
But again - by analogy with the human world - there are deceptions here too.
The brand of the sanitary wrasse is used by another species that closely resembles it.
Characteristic oblong shape of the body,
with a dark stripe running down its length,
and a blue note in the tail part of the fish, took on the False cleanerfish.
The False cleanerfish usually feeds on the eggs of other fish.
However, this form of foarging is associated with high risk.
Eventually, it can be spotted and chased away quite quickly.
It is sometimes difficult for customers of the wrasse to distinguish it from the real employees of the cleaning station.
Therefore, smaller individuals take the easy way out.
Using the phenomenon of mimicry, i.e. similarity to our wrasse,
they safely approach the fish and bite off small fragments of their fins.
Then they quickly retreat to a safe hiding place.
Despite the deceptive similarity of these two species, not all fish can be deceived and some chase the intruder away.
If you don't have enough interesting facts about the wrasse - I'll add one more.
The phenomenon of sex change occurs in wrasses, just like in clownfish - only in reverse.
In the case of the wrasse, we are talking about the phenomenon of protogyny.
So the phenomenon in which all individuals mature as females.
The dominant female then changes sex.
Wrasse cleaning stations may just consist of a dominant male and his harem.
I'm going to throw in one more curiosity for dessert.
Wrasse passed the so-called. mirror test.
It is a test that examines self-awareness in humans and animals.
More recent research suggests that wrasses can remember their image and recognize themselves in the picture.
Such information may have implications for our perception of the cognitive abilities of fish.
Although humans are undeniably more complex organisms,
the many interspecies relationships of fish remind us of what our society's rules were built on.
It also turns out that the brand and professionalism also count on coral reefs.
And the world of fish may be closer to us than we have assumed so far.