The other week, while talking about wrasses, we touched on the intelligence of cleaner fish! From here, a particular world opens up... SPAs! Surprisingly, even in the sea there are wellness centers or "cleaning stations" where fish go to... Do what exactly?
The cleaning stations (SPA)
Cleaning stations are among the most popular and famous places in the Animal Kingdom! In these special places, animals of various kinds are hosted and pampered tirelessly by very professional organizations that are attentive to the smallest needs of their customers!
All sea creatures can have parasites: from jellyfish to coral, from whales to the smallest reef fish. Parasites can settle anywhere: on the skin, between the gills, on the fins, in the mouth; creating even very serious problems for the host.
Clients come to these spas to get a real beauty treatment with removal of parasites, algae, dead skin and other small unwanted imperfections. The cleaners, thanks to their efficient work, have guaranteed food every day!
As much as it may seem like a pleasant comic strip, the relationship between cleaner fish and their clients is a true symbiosis, that is, a relationship of mutual help and benefit with specific and very rigorous dynamics. It is one of the most sophisticated and complex relationships in the entire animal kingdom.
Where are the cleaning stations?
Cleaning stations exist in both fresh and salt water. In temperate seas, they are places full of large flat rocks, where “customers” can sit and relax.
In tropical seas, however, we find them in the coral reef. A portion of the coral reef becomes a cleaning station when it has evident coralligenous concretions and a large quantity of special animals, precisely cleaning organisms…
“Sharpen your eyesight!”
The protagonists of the cleaning station
The protagonists of marine spas are a huge variety of highly specialized organisms such as cleaner fish and cleaner shrimp.
They show their availability to the public with special signals!
“We change color to increase our visibility or use particular body positions while swimming! When we approach a potential customer we also wag our tails to make our intentions clear! Better not to create misunderstandings while performing a dental cleaning!”
Among the great variety of cleaner fish we find wrasses, triggerfish, butterflyfish, discus fish, damsel fish, angelfish, gobies and jacks fish.
“This variability of species demonstrates the enormous utility of being a cleaner fish! Everyone wants to do it!”
Who uses the cleaning station
Over one hundred known species of marine animals including manta rays, sharks, groupers, turtles, moray eels, lobsters, whales, octopuses, in short, anyone enjoys frequenting the cleaning station. Customers go to the cleaning stations, patiently waiting for their turn to be cleaned, making themselves available with specific behaviors.
The importance of the cleaning station
These places have been the subject of many studies over time and some truly extraordinary things have been discovered!
An average cleaner fish can remove about 1218 parasites per day! Almost indigestion-inducing!
There are loyal customers who visit the same cleaner fish up to 144 times in a day.
Many species of fish, especially those that migrate from one coral reef to another, choose reefs based on the presence of cleaner fish.
How Customers and Cleaner Fish Communicate
During the session, customers actively participate in the cleaning by helping the cleaner fish to reach even “uncomfortable” areas where parasites are more likely to nest, but how do they understand each other?
When it’s their turn to clean, the clients remain still and spread their fins wide, some open their mouths and open their gill covers to allow the cleaner fish to enter and exit comfortably.
Even the little workers make their intentions clear by tapping their fins against the guest’s body as if to ask for more cooperation!
The Courage of Cleaner Fish
But when it comes to cleaning a shark's mouth, it's not something to be taken lightly! From tireless workers they could turn into quick morsels! But it's not in anyone's interest to eat these precious little fish!
Therefore, at the base of this delicate relationship we find trust: the cleaner fish must trust the customer and vice versa. It is not for nothing that the customer in the same day can return to the same cleaner fish 144 times!
Trust is something to be cultivated over the course of weeks if not months, cleaner fish in fact tend to spend more time with a customer they already know and to "pamper" him, also remembering when was the last time they saw him and the kindness of the customer himself.
This type of mental ability is called episodic memory.
“Well yes, we fish have good memories too!”
“Be careful not to betray trust though!”
For his part, the customer can make choices dictated not by chance but by a careful evaluation of the different workers; in fact, why choose one cleaner fish rather than another?
Selfish interests of cleaner fish
Cleaner fish are very fond of mucus, a substance found on the skin of the fish and which surprisingly has a higher nutritional value than parasites and algae, but probably also tastes better!
The problem is that customers do not like to have the mucus removed from their skin, as for them it is a protection against any external agent.
“That’s why we have to fight every day with our greed so as not to lose customers!”
When customers realize that they have been deprived of their mucus, they feel pain and therefore startle, making the cleaner fish understand that they are exaggerating!
If the deceived customer is new to the cleaner fish, then he will move away, causing him to lose credibility in the eyes of other customers, but if instead the customer is a regular, the cleaner fish is punished and chased without too many scruples…
“In short, we are in the spotlight and we have to try to be good!”
These unpleasant episodes never happen in the initial stages of this delicate relationship, in fact the cleaner fish behave impeccably by filling them with caresses and attentions to encourage them to stay longer in the cleaning station but also to calm them down following an unexpected bite!
Furthermore, the cleaner fish must make a good impression if there are new customers nearby, who certainly might not like having their mucus stolen!
The "greediness!" also depends on how many customers frequent the cleaning station.
“If the cleaning station is very busy, we can afford an extra clamp since we will still have many customers; if it is not, then it is better to do a good job by the book, investing in trust!”
The small cleaner fish are anything but naive, observing a piece of coral reef you will notice that each organism is doing something specific but above all that nothing, absolutely nothing is left to chance!