Cleaner Wrasse Quiz: Reef Cleaning Stations and Mirror Tests
This cleaner wrasse quiz pulls up at a busy reef cleaning station. Play 10 interactive questions on client fish waiting in line, eating parasites and dead skin, the blue stripe that advertises service, predators that spare their cleaners, cheating by biting healthy mucus, punishment by clients, a mimic blenny that bites, and a 2019 study suggesting cleaner wrasse recognize themselves in mirrors.
Start Cleaner Wrasse Quiz
🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds
Job
What do cleaner wrasse do?
Station
What is a cleaning station?
Food
What do cleaners eat from clients?
Stripe
What signals a cleaner wrasse?
Safe
Why don't predators eat cleaner wrasse?
Cheat
How do cleaners sometimes cheat?
Punish
How do clients react to cheating?
Mimic
Which fish copies cleaners to bite clients?
Mirror
What did a 2019 study suggest?
Reef
What happens to reefs without cleaners?
Your score
0/10
Scroll down to see the explanation for each question.
Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions
- Q1: What do cleaner wrasse do?
Answer: Remove parasites from other fish
They run cleaning stations.
- Q2: What is a cleaning station?
Answer: A spot where fish visit to be cleaned
Clients wait their turn.
- Q3: What do cleaners eat from clients?
Answer: Parasites and dead skin
It is a meal for them.
- Q4: What signals a cleaner wrasse?
Answer: A dark stripe on a blue body
Clients recognize it.
- Q5: Why don't predators eat cleaner wrasse?
Answer: They benefit from being cleaned
Even groupers open their mouths.
- Q6: How do cleaners sometimes cheat?
Answer: By biting healthy mucus
Mucus is tastier.
- Q7: How do clients react to cheating?
Answer: Chase or leave the cleaner
Cleaners behave better when watched.
- Q8: Which fish copies cleaners to bite clients?
Answer: A mimic blenny
It looks very similar.
- Q9: What did a 2019 study suggest?
Answer: They may recognize themselves in mirrors
Marked fish tried to scrape off marks.
- Q10: What happens to reefs without cleaners?
Answer: Fewer fish visit or stay
Cleaners support fish health.
Reef Doctors With Big Brains
Cleaner wrasse are small reef fish with a dark stripe on a blue body, a sign clients recognize. They run cleaning stations where other fish wait their turn to have parasites and dead skin removed, a meal for the wrasse and a health service for the client.
Even large predators such as groupers open their mouths and let cleaners inside, since being cleaned helps them. Cleaners sometimes cheat by biting healthy mucus, which tastes better, but clients chase them or leave, and cleaners behave better when others are watching. A mimic blenny copies their look to sneak bites.
In a 2019 study, cleaner wrasse with colored marks tried to scrape them off after seeing themselves in a mirror, suggesting they may recognize themselves. On reefs where cleaners disappear, fewer fish visit or stay.
What This Quiz Teaches
Ocean fans will enjoy these questions.
- What cleaners do
- How stations work
- Why predators spare them
- How cheating works
- What the mirror test showed
Did You Know?
- A station can serve thousands of fish a day.
- Cleaners dance to attract clients.
- Shrimp also run cleaning stations.
- Clients pose to show they want cleaning.
- Juveniles may clean differently.
Related Quizzes
Ready for another round?
Jump to a random quiz from the archive.