Virtual Travel-Meet a Grouper at a Cleaning Station

This Nassau Grouper was seen at a cleaning station at Mixing Bowl, Bloody Bay Marine Park, Little Cayman, BWI. You can see the cleaner shrimps near its eye and around its mouth. There is also a small fish (gobie) cleaning its "nose" area.

What's a cleaning station? It's a bit like going to the dentist or spa. A fish pulls up and settles in and the cleaner fish get to work.

Cleaner fish are fish that show a specialist feeding strategy by providing a service to other species, referred to as clients, by removing dead skin, ectoparasites, and infected tissue from the surface or gill chambers. 

This example of cleaning symbiosis represents mutualism and cooperation behaviour, an ecological interaction that benefits both parties involved.  

A wide variety of fish including wrasse, cichlids, catfish, pipefish, lumpsuckers, and gobies display cleaning behaviors across the globe in fresh, brackish, and marine waters but specifically concentrated in the tropics due to high parasite density. Similar behavior is found in other groups of animals, such as cleaner shrimps.

After the client moves off the station if you gently place your hand near the cleaner shrimp, they will remove skin and debris from under your fingernails.

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Take a virtual tour through some of my photos: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Travel-Photography

We'll get through this together. We're all connected.
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Nancy Nutile-McMenemy is an Upper Valley freelance photographer and writer who loves to attend concerts and local events in and around Weathersfield and the Upper Valley.

If you have anything you think I should post during our Stay At Home Time drop me an email: photosbynanci@comcast.com