Coral mucus feeding behavior by the cleaner wrasse

(78.9MB, 00:00:58)
Shot Date: 2020/07/22
Shot Location: Sakimotobu, Okinawa, Japan

species
Labroides dimidiatus

Key Words
Cleaner wrasse
Mucus
Okinawa
Soft coral
Lobophytum


Hajime Sato
2025/10/29 submitted


Animalia >Chordata >Osteichthyes >Perciformes >Labridae >Labroides >
or
Animalia >Unidentified >Unidentified >Unidentified >Unidentified >Unidentified >

This video records a pair of the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus (Labridae), actively nibbling at the surface of a soft coral of the genus Lobophytum. The footage was recorded by Hajime Sato on July 22, 2020, on a coral reef at Sakimotobu, Okinawa, Japan (26Β°38β€²N, 127Β°53β€²E), at a depth of 2.0 to 3.0 m, beginning at 12:00 h.
The cleaner wrasses appeared to be feeding on mucus secreted by the soft coral. This behavior appears to be rare compared with commonly observed feeding behaviors of cleaner wrasse, such as removing ectoparasites from client fish or biting mucus from client fish.

Reference:
Yi-Kai Tea, Lauriane Baraf, Younis Menkara, William B. Ludt, Gerald R. Allen, Jean-Paul A. Hobbs & Peter F. Cowman, Cleaning up the cleaner wrasses: revision of the πΏπ‘Žπ‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘–π‘‘π‘’π‘  π‘β„Žπ‘‘β„Žπ‘–π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘β„Žπ‘Žπ‘”π‘’π‘  and πΏπ‘Žπ‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘–π‘‘π‘’π‘  π‘π‘–π‘π‘œπ‘™π‘œπ‘Ÿ species complexes, with rediagnosis of πΏπ‘Žπ‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘–π‘‘π‘’π‘  π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘™π‘Žπ‘π‘–π‘Žπ‘‘π‘’π‘  and descriptions of two new species (Teleostei: Labridae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Vol 74: 403–443, 18th May 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26107/RBZ-2026-0027

(Data No.momo251020ld01b)

Copyrights belong to author.
Read Terms of Service carefully

>>Japanese

[Database Home]