FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL, 69. NO. 



Kelpfish regularly solicit cleaning from indi- 

 vidual senoritas, but the situation is exceptional. 

 Because kelpfish rise into midwater for cleaning, 

 it appears that they do not receive satisfactory 

 service in their regular habitat amid benthic veg- 

 etation. In their usual surroundings, where they 

 are extremely difficult to discern, the cryptic 

 kelpfish may be relatively inaccessible to cleaning 

 seiioritas. One can see why a fish thus handi- 

 capped might be required to initiate needed 

 cleaning itself. The number of unsuccessful at- 

 tempts experienced by kelpfish before a seiiorita 

 was finally induced to clean them underscores 

 the existing problem of locating a cleaning indi- 

 vidual. 



SPECIES-SPECIFIC CLEANING 



Because the cleaning seiiorita initiates most 

 of its activity, it has the opportunity to select 

 its clients, and the data indicate that a species- 

 specific choice is exercised. That individual 

 cleaners tend to limit their selection to members 

 of only one species may be related to the fact 

 that they initiate cleaning on the home ground 

 of the fishes they serve, when these fishes are 

 engaged in some of their regular activity. As 

 each of these clients has distinctive habits, a seii- 

 orita approaching to clean a fish of one species 

 faces a somewhat difi'erent situation than a seii- 

 orita approaching to clean a fish of another spe- 

 cies. The distinctions often are subtle, but may 

 be significant enough to account for a given 

 seiiorita's tendency to seek out members of only 

 one species. 



Again we can draw a contrast with the clean- 

 ing behavior of Lahroides phthirophagus, indi- 

 viduals of which receive members of many dif- 

 ferent species at well-defined cleaning stations 

 (Randall, 1958; Youngbluth, 1968). Probably 

 such nonspecific cleaning is characteristic of 

 cleaners whose activity is confined to these estab- 

 lished locations. Fishes that visit such cleaning 

 stations enter the cleaner's own territory, and 

 frequently .join a mixed-species group that hov- 

 ers in wait for service. In tending these fishes 

 on its home ground, the cleaner is receiving 

 them on its own terms, so to speak, so that the 

 situations surrounding cleaning bouts with 



all of the difl^'erent species are essentially the 

 same. 



Cleaning by the seiiorita may not be species- 

 specific on those few occasions when the cleaning 

 activity is initiated by the fish in need of such 

 service, for example by the kelpfish, as described 

 above. Although they show some diff'iculty lo- 

 cating a receptive seiiorita, kelpfish nevertheless 

 seem far more successful at doing so than one 

 would expect if indeed they are required to find 

 one that will clean only kelpfish. Thus, although 

 individual seiioritas seem to be species-specific 

 when they themselves initiate cleaning, they may 

 be considerably less so, and perhaps even non- 

 specific, when the other fish makes the initial 

 overture. There are no data on this point, how- 

 ever. 



The extent to which these considerations ap- 

 ply to juvenile sharpnose seaperch and kelp 

 perch cannot be ascertained because data are 

 lacking. 



SIGNIFICANCE OF POSTURES ASSUMED 

 BY FISHES THAT SOLICIT CLEANING 



\^'Ilen members of an assemblage of fishes like 

 blacksmiths or topsmelt converge on a cleaning 

 site that has developed in their midst, probably 

 their attention was initiall.v alei'ted by the un- 

 natural-appearing posture assumed by the indi- 

 vidual first approached by the cleaner. Usually 

 this posture does not seem to be assumed pur- 

 posefully, but rather results when the fish, hav- 

 ing ceased swimming and immobilizing its fins, 

 passively drifts out of its regular attitude (Hob- 

 son, 1965b). The posture thus assumed varies, 

 especially between species, where perhaps dif- 

 fering centers of gravity are determining fac- 

 tors. Thus the blacksmith usually hovers head- 

 down, whereas the topsmelt is more often 

 tail-down. Sometimes an unnatural-appearing 

 posture is actively assumed when the fish at- 

 tempts to present to the cleaner a certain part 

 of its body, presumably that part carrying an 

 irritation. By virtue of their unusual appear- 

 ance, these ijostures in cleaning interactions 

 serve to draw attention to the fish that is cleaned. 

 It does not seem necessary that any particular 

 posture be assumed, only that it look out of the 



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