Comments on Certain Recent Generalizations Regarding Cleaning Symbiosis in Fishes

Abstract

Many fishes in the marine environment remove ectoparasites, diseased tissue, and other deleterious material from the bodies of other aquatic animals (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1955; Randall, 1958; Limbaugh, 1955; and others). In reporting on these "cleaners," Limbaugh (1961), in a posthumous report edited by Howard M. Feder, attempted some broad generalizations that contrast cleaning in tropical and temperate seas; these were later presented by Feder (1966) in his review of cleaning symbiosis in the marine environment. These generalizations are in need of critical review, as they are now becoming entrenched in the literature (e.g., Gotshall, 1967; Marshall, 1965; Ommanney, 1966).