incidental observations. In this report, I de- 

 scribe cleaning symbiosis among inshore fishes 

 of southern California and attempt to I'elate ob- 

 served activity with the incidence of specific 

 ectoparasites. 



Conrad Limbaugh, Scripps Institution of 

 Oceanography, was among the first to report 

 cleaning symbiosis among California fishes. In 

 a study of fishes of the kelp beds, Limbaugh 

 (1955) described cleaning by the seiiorita, Ox- 

 yjulis californica, a fish of the family Labridae, 

 and also by several seaperches of the family 

 Embiotocidae: the kelp perch, Brachyistius 

 frenatus; the black perch, Emhiotoca jacksoni; 

 and the pile perch, Rhacochilus vacca. Subse- 

 quent observers have described cleaning by the 

 rainbow seaperch, Hijpsurus cnryi (Gotshall, 

 1967) ; the sharpnose seaperch, Phanerodon 

 atripes (Clarke, Flechsig, and Grigg, 1967; 

 Gotshall, 1967; Hobson, 1969a) ; and the black- 

 smith, Chromis punctipinnis (Turner, Ebert, 

 and Given, 1969). 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 69, NO. 3 



SPECIES STUDIED 



Most of the cleaning observed during this 

 study was performed by the seiiorita (Figure 1) , 

 which by virtue of its great abundance in a va- 

 riety of habitats is the predominant cleaner in- 

 shore. The sharpnose seaperch (Figure 2) was 

 frequently observed cleaning, but its activity is 

 centered in deeper water. The kelp perch (Fig- 

 ure 3) may be an important cleaner in the can- 

 opy region of the kelp forests, where it concen- 



FiGURE 1. — Seiiorita. 



FiGUKE 2. — Sharpnose seapercli anions: l)ranche.s of a Rorgonian. 



492 



