Sharks are vulnerable to parasitic copepods , especially the scalloped hammerheads of the Eastern Pacific . This female hammerhead is being cleaned by a school of barberfish and king angelfish as it passes by a cleaning station at Wolf Island , Galapagos .
A friend in need ...
A final note : not every cleaner wrasse is a cleaner wrasse . Some fish are known to imitate the wrasse ’ s distinctive markings in order to insinuate themselves into a cleaning station to tear small pieces of flesh from an unsuspecting client . Step forward our prime suspect , the bluestreak fangblenny , Plagiotremus rhinorchynos , which mimics juvenile cleaner wrasse so that its presence is tolerated by older wrasse .
It is only a small fish , but by subverting the sanctity of the cleaning station it can cause chaos . If you ’ re ever lucky enough to see manta rays being cleaned , you may see an individual flinch and rear up as if it had been stung . The culprit is almost certainly some sort of mimic blenny , and they can disrupt the cleaning of an entire school of rays with their opportunistic feeding habits .
They come in the guise of a friend , but take their pound of flesh while offering nothing in return . Indeed , in some parts of the world they have become known as ... the estate agent fish . �
By contrast , lemon sharks are capable of resting on the seabed , albeit for limited periods . I ’ d always been told that sharks dislike their attendant remoras . However , on a trip to the Bahamas I found this shark with his mouth wide open while a small but trusting white-tail remora went to work .
Pelagic thresher sharks seek out cleaning stations manned by half-moon wrasse at Monad Shoal in the Philippines .
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