Ecology
Giant fish protect a psychological map of the place cleansing fish present the highest-quality pest elimination.
Even sea creatures want pampering. Manta rays make common visits to ‘cleaning stations’, the place small fish rid the rays of pores and skin parasites at the coral-reef equal of a day spa. Now evidently rays can establish and bear in mind spots the place they’ve acquired high quality cleansing.
Cleaning stations are sometimes centred on corals inhabited by cleaner shrimp or fish. To perceive how these stations affect rays’ actions, Asia Armstrong at the University of Queensland in St Lucia, Australia, and her colleagues tracked 34 reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) off the coast of jap Australia for about 1.5 years.
The highest density of rays was discovered at locations the place cleansing fish known as blue-streak cleaner wrasses (Labroides dimidiatus) have been most considerable. Rays usually visited cleansing stations throughout the day, when cleaner wrasses are most energetic, and favoured stations shut to foraging areas.
Rays are thought to favor stations that present superior cleansing — the place the cleaners don’t chunk them, for instance. The rays’ behaviour means that they’ve a psychological map of spots that provide each high-quality cleansing and proximity to foraging grounds.
