Pacific cleaner shrimp

Biology

The Pacific cleaner shrimp is an omnivorous shrimp species, which eats parasites and dead tissue, being an important part of the coral reef ecosystem. Individuals from this species, which reach up to 6 centimetres in length, have one white dorsal band, and two red lateral ones. Each shrimp starts out as a male, but after a few moults will become a hermaphrodite and will function as both male and female. They can lay 200 to 500 eggs at a time, which hatch in five days.

Curiosities

The cleaner shrimp waits for its clients at so-called cleaning stations where it is often accompanied by other fish and shrimp species offering similar services. Some species will even clean inside the mouth and gill cavity without being eaten. It is so efficient, that fishes will wait in line for its services.