JUST like people, fish kiss and make up. Aquatic detente has been spotted in
cleaner fish, Labroides dimidiatus, which feed on the parasites and
scales of “client” reef fish.
Redouan Bshary from the University of Cambridge and Manuela Würth from
the Technical University in Munich studied cleaner fish in the Ras Mohammed
National Park at the southern tip of Sinai, Egypt. They found that the fish
stroke their clients’ fins to cement the relationship. If, for example, they’ve
accidentally bitten their client too vigorously while dining, they pet even
more.
They’ll also caress their clients to persuade them not to swim away, visit…
