FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL 69, NO. 3 



Reports in the literature present a comparable 

 picture. Most published accounts of cleaning by 

 seiioritas describe the way blacksmiths cluster 

 around this cleaner to solicit its attentions (Lim- 

 baugh, 1955, 1961; Feder, 1966; and others). 

 Limbaugh (1955) observed the following fish 

 being cleaned by seiioritas: Myliohatis califor- 

 nica, Stereolepis gigas, Paralahrax clathratus, 

 Trachurus symmetriciis, Atherinops affinis, 

 Anisotremtis davidsoni, Hyperprosopon argen- 

 teum, Rfiacochilus vacca, Chromis punctipinnis, 

 Hypsypops nibicunda, Girella nigricans, Medi- 

 aluna californiensis, and Mola mola. Turner et 

 al. (1969) observed the following fish being 

 cleaned by seiioritas: Sebastes spp., Atherinops 

 affinis, Atherinopsis californiensis, Trachunis 

 symmetriciis, Seriola dorsalis, Chromis ptinctip- 

 innis, and Mola mola. Neither of these reports 

 gives data on the relative frequency with which 

 these different species were cleaned, but it is 

 significant that many of the same species con- 

 sistently appear in the reports of independent 

 observers, while at the same time many other 

 species that frequent these waters in large num- 

 bers are not mentioned. No doubt many species 

 not yet reported are occasionally cleaned by 

 seiioritas, but there seems little doubt that a 

 certain few species, the blacksmith in particular, 

 predominate in this activity. 



Specific Cleaning Interactions 



The fishes cleaned by the seiiorita vary mark- 

 edly in their habits and habitat, as well as in 

 their relative numbers. These fishes do not seek 

 out cleaning at a "station" established by the 

 seiiorita, but rather i-eceive the seiiorita on their 

 own grounds during the course of their regular 

 activity. Cleaning interactions often proceed 

 diff'erently with one of these species than with 

 another. Some of these variations in cleaning 

 activity are characterized below. 



Senorita-blacksmith interactions. — The black- 

 smith is one of the most abundant fish over rocky 

 substrates in Califoi-nia inshore waters, where 

 it swims in large stationary aggregations in mid- 

 water. It feeds largely on zooplankton (Quast, 

 1968) and attains a length of about 250 mm. 



Generally the first sign of an interaction oc- 

 curs when a seiiorita swims up alongside a black- 

 smith in midwater and closely inspects its body. 

 The blacksmith may then immediately stop swim- 

 ming and, holding its fins motionless and erect, 

 drift into an awkward-appearing posture. Usu- 

 ally the blacksmith is head-down, but sometimes 

 turns on its sides or is tail-down. On some occa- 

 sions the blacksmith presents a particular part 

 of its body to the inspecting seiiorita. The seii- 

 orita swims about this fish, usually pausing 

 briefly to pick at its body. Immediately follow- 

 ing the first sign of this activity other black- 

 smiths converge on the spot, so that very quickly 

 10 or more crowd around the cleaner (Figure 4) . 

 The seiiorita soon leaves the original blacksmith 

 and may then move on to one of the others. It 

 may also swim slowly away, whereupon the 

 group of blacksmiths follows along, each attempt- 

 ing to position itself in the seiiorita's path. Al- 

 though the seiiorita shows progressively less in- 

 terest in the blacksmiths, they continue to crowd 

 in its way. Soon the seiiorita shows no further 

 interest in cleaning, and all but a few black- 

 smiths leave the group. The remaining few 

 doggedly continue attempting to present them- 

 selves to the now-unresponsive cleaner. Even- 

 tually, however, these last blacksmiths lose con- 

 tact with the cleaner as it swims off" among the 

 kelp or the many other seiioritas in the sur- 

 rounding water. Once they have lost contact 

 with the cleaner the blacksmiths do not attempt 

 to solicit cleaning from any of the many other 

 seiioritas around them. 



On only two occasions did I note blacksmiths 

 soliciting cleaning from a seiiorita that did not 

 seem to have made an initiating gesture. Once 

 the blacksmiths were very small, about 40 mm 

 long, and in the other observation, at a depth 

 of 27 m, little cleaning had been seen and rela- 

 tively few seiioritas were present. However, 

 in both instances the seiioritas were known by 

 me on the basis of earlier observations to be 

 individuals that clean. It is possible that the 

 fishes soliciting attention recognized these seii- 

 oritas as cleaners through some cue not noted 

 by me. Sometimes when a seiiorita incidentally 

 passes close to a blacksmith, the blacksmith no- 

 ticeably pauses in its swimming and looks as 



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