Diplomacy of fish cleaners

2008/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia

The Labroides dimidiatus is a tropical fish that lives from the cleaning of other fish. It is a type of symbiosis; for other fish dirt is food for the fluff, so cleaning is good for both. On the other hand, an important feature of symbiosis is that other fish do not attack the cleaner. And as experts have discovered, this is not only filled with the flush, but with all species within the cleaning zone. No one attacks anyone.

For this, they have conducted experiments at Queensland University in Australia. Predatory and prey fish are mixed in two aquariums, and one of them includes the whip. There has been little persecution between fish and the absence of fish eaten in the aquarium. Experts don't know why predators' behavior changes before the cleaner, but they believe that the lame itself participates in this change.