Fish cleaning behaviour of shrimp

Abstract

Cleaning behaviour of five species of shrimp from three families was studied at three different geographic locations in an effort to gain a quantitative understanding of cleaning behaviour, and to compare a broad cross‐section of cleaner shrimp species. Two shrimp from the genus Periclimenes, two from the genus Lysmata, and one from the genus Stenopus were used and 27 hours of recorded laboratory observations were made for each of the five shrimp species.All shrimp species were inactive most of the observed time, and most spent less than 2% of the observed time cleaning fish hosts. Also, the shrimp spent more time cleaning the ventral rather than the dorsal surface of the fish because they were reluctant to board the fish. However, evenness in cleaning does not appear to be an indicator of overall excellence in cleaning because the two best cleaners (based on number and duration of cleaning bouts) were among the least even in their cleaning.The fish cleaning behaviour of the shrimp appeared to be strictly stereotypic in form, but the stimulus‐response and the total amount of cleaning differed greatly among the five species. A Cleaning Efficiency Index (CEI) was created in an attempt to incorporate significant aspects of the cleaning behaviour. According to this CEI, Lysmata grabhami was by far the most efficient (best) cleaner, CEI = 55–51, compared to the others; Stenopus hispidus, 33–78; Periclimenes pedersoni, 6–29; Periclimenes yucatunicus, 5–60; and Lysmata californien, 2–12.The cleaners most widely distributed geographically have the highest CEI scores, while the most localized cleaners have the lowest CEIs. This relationship may allow the CEI score to be useful in determining a cleaner shrimp's potential geographical distribution, and may also serve as an indicator for the degree of phylogenetic relationship to other cleaner shrimps.