Cleaner Shrimp

Cleaner shrimp are so called as they exhibit a cleaning symbiosis with client fish where the shrimp clean parasites from the fish. They are often included in saltwater aquaria partly due to this relationship and their brightly colored appearance. Cleaner shrimp exhibit cleaning symbiosis: a relationship in which individuals from different species benefit from cleaning. The fish benefit by having parasites removed from them, and the shrimp gain the nutritional value of the parasites. In many coral reefs, cleaner shrimp congregate at cleaning stations. In this behavior cleaner shrimps are similar to cleaner fish, and sometimes may join with cleaner wrasse and other cleaner fish attending to client fish.