The Effect of the Cleaner-Fish Labroides dimidiatus on the Point Diversity of Fishes on the Reef Front at Eilat

Abstract

The cleaning stations maintained by Labroides dimidiatus, the cleaning wrasse on the coral reefs at Eilat, Israel, are foci of high "point diversity" for fish on the reef. Approximately one-quarter of the fishes consisting of the larger, nonterritorial, diurnal species tend to aggregate at these feeding stations. In the case of the coral fishes at Eilat, the purely biological foci of high point diversity are of major importance, as contrasted with the other physical foci found, for example, at water holes and in places of high geometric complexity in other areas.