🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨

Known by various names, including Pacific cleaner shrimp, scarlet cleaner shrimp, and skunk cleaner shrimp, these shrimp play a vital role in coral reef ecosystems. Their common name is derived from the fact that a large portion of their diet is made up of dead tissue and parasites they remove from fish. They will set up a cleaning station on coral or a rock and wait for fish to stop by to be cleaned of dead tissue and parasites. These brightly colored shrimp have a red band on each side of their body separated by a white band down the middle of the back. As with members of the Order Decapoda, they have ten legs.

Pacific cleaner shrimp have developed a symbiotic relationship with many marine fish, being compensated for their cleaning services with edible parasites and dead tissue from the mouths of their patients.

Some scuba divers return to spots with cleaner shrimp to have their teeth cleaned by them regularly.