Cleaner Shrimp

cleaner shrimps remove parasites from many reef fish.

Feb 4, 2007 John Blatchford

The Pacific Cleaner Shrimp makes a good addition to the tropical marine aquarium.

The Pacific Cleaner Shrimp lysmata amboinensis (also known as the Skunk Cleaner Shrimp and the White-banded Cleaner Shrimp) is a marine crustacean that cleans fish for a living. It lives on coral reefs in the Red Sea and throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and is a common and useful addition to any saltwater aquarium. (Photos)

It pays to advertise!

Cleaner Shrimps are engaged in a dangerous business. They approach fish, clean the skin, enter the mouth and creep over the gills. In the wild the Pacific Cleaner Shrimp specialises in providing these services to large predatory fish such as groupers, so he needs to ‘explain’ very carefully that he is offering to clean the fish, not to become the next meal! All cleaner shrimps are brightly marked (one species is sometimes called the Barber-pole Shrimp) and they frequent special ‘Cleaning Stations’ on the reef.

Cleaner Shrimp or Cleaner Fish?

Many fish (such as the Striped Cleaner Wrasse Labroides dimidiatus) perform a similar cleaning function on the reef. They are also brightly marked and often perform special ‘dances’ to further advertise their trade. Many client fish seem to prefer shrimps over fish as ‘groomers’, maybe because the shrimps are more delicate in their approach, but this preference might also have something to do with the fact that there are also some nasty little fish that look and behave like cleaners, but have something entirely different in mind! (See: ‘Friend or Foe’).

False Cleaners.

The Sabre-toothed Blenny Aspidontus taeniatus looks and behaves very much like a real cleaner fish, but once it has lured an unsuspecting client fish close it dashes in and bites out a chunk of flesh. A fish that has been duped in this way will, very naturally, be wary of genuine cleaner fish for a while and might prefer to trust his delicate bits to shrimps! (I see parallels here with the behaviour of Oxpecker Birds who are evolving from cleaners of large mammals into Blood-suckers.)

The Aquarium.

A tropical marine aquarium is more difficult to set up and run than a freshwater aquarium, but well worthwhile. If you decide to have a go then the Pacific Cleaner Shrimp lysmata amboinensis would make a very useful and interesting addition. He is beautiful and will keep your fish clean.

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The copyright of the article Cleaner Shrimp in Marine Biology & Oceanography is owned by John Blatchford. Permission to republish Cleaner Shrimp in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.