Cleaner shrimp, or banded boxer shrimp, in an aquarium
Cleaner shrimp, or banded boxer shrimp, in the sea - at Sodwanda Bay. Photo Guido Zsilavecz
The banded boxer shrimp, more often known simply as the cleaner shrimp, even though other species may also act as cleaners, are amongst the favourites for divers on coral reefs. Fish will patiently wait in a queue to be cleaned, and the shrimp will jump from fish to fish, removing parasites and other edible bits and pieces, which help improve the health of the fish. While they do the cleaning the normal behaviour of the fish changes quite dramatically, with the fish appearing as if paralysed, hanging in mid-water. Fish waiting also leave other fish alone, even if they may be considered prey at normal times. This is all very attractive for divers, who often, with some patience, manage to get very impressive photos of big fish, including moray eels, with their mouths wide open while the shrimp ranges all over them, completely care-free.
The banded boxer shrimp is one of the more common cleaner shrimps, and ranges throughout the whole Indian ocean.
Indian Ocean Reef Guide, H Debelius, 1999
Two Oceans, A guide to the marine life of Southern Africa, GM Branch, CL Griffiths, ML Branch and LE Beckley, 1994.