Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse

coral reefs · helper fish · super smart

Underwater doctor. The bluestreak cleaner wrasse eats parasites and dead tissue right off the skin of much larger fish. The bigger fish get healthier, and the wrasse gets a meal, so both animals benefit.

Reef to reef home. You can find bluestreak cleaner wrasses on coral reefs stretching from Eastern Africa and the Red Sea all the way to French Polynesia across the Pacific Ocean.

Possibly self-aware. Scientists think the bluestreak cleaner wrasse might have passed the mirror test, which means it could recognize itself in a mirror and understand that it's looking at its own reflection.

Perfect partnership. This wrasse's cleaning relationship with bigger fish works so well that the bigger fish actually recognize individual cleaners and come back to the same spots to get cleaned.