Showing 3 posts tagged blenny

High-res Blue-lined Sabretooth Blenny (Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos) by Samantha Craven Also known as Fangblennies, this group mimics bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) juveniles to enable them to loiter at cleaner stations and dupe clients waiting to be cleaned. The mimicry allows them to approach the fish, but instead of eating parasites or dead cells like the wrasse, it goes for the flesh. Their success in this aggressive mimicry is, like Batesian mimicry, frequency-dependent: it works best when the mimic is rare compared to the genuinely symbiotic cleaner fish.

Blue-lined Sabretooth Blenny (Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos) by Samantha Craven

Also known as Fangblennies, this group mimics bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) juveniles to enable them to loiter at cleaner stations and dupe clients waiting to be cleaned. The mimicry allows them to approach the fish, but instead of eating parasites or dead cells like the wrasse, it goes for the flesh. Their success in this aggressive mimicry is, like Batesian mimicry, frequency-dependent: it works best when the mimic is rare compared to the genuinely symbiotic cleaner fish.