Female Fish are Punished for Bad Table Manners
Image Source: Flickr
I have a question for all the women out there who are either married or in some type of romantic relationship. Has your partner ever criticized (or punished) you simply because dinner was late or not to his/her liking? If so, it may interest you to know that certain fish species also go through similar situations.
The Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse is a fish that apparently needs a lesson in manners. This fish is known as a “cleaner fish”. They will clean parasites off larger marine animals, which is a win-win situation because the wrasse gets a free meal and the larger fish are cleaned at no extra charge. However, these bluestreak cleaner wrasse fish crave something more than parasites: mucous tissue.
This hardly sounds appetizing to us, but if one of these fish gives in to that temptation, there’s a good chance it will not only irritate the larger fish, but also cause it to swim away. The main culprit of this would be the female bluestreak cleaner wrasse. Imagine their temptation for mucous tissue being similar to our temptation for chocolate—we know we shouldn’t (for whatever reasons), but we give in to the temptation sooner or later anyway.
So, where do the males come into the scenario? They like to have a decent meal. If that meal happens to be disrupted or chased away because of the females’ craving for mucous tissue, they will react by chasing the females away—basically their form of chastising or punishment.
A recent study—published in the journal Science—was conducted of these fish at the Zoological Society of London. They recreated the feeding scenario by using an underwater plate as a replacement for the larger fish. The plate contained fish flakes (parasites) and prawns (mucous tissue). If one of the fish ate a prawn the researchers would take the plate away, to simulate the idea of the larger fish swimming away. Even in the laboratory setting, the male fish would still chase away the females.
One interesting thing to note about all species of cleaner wrasse is they actually start their life as female. Yes, that includes the males. In a small group of these fish (anywhere between 6 and 
there is only one male. When that male dies, the strongest female of the group will go through a sex change. It certainly puts an interesting perspective on the situation, to say the least.
By Heidi Marshall
I have been with GreenFudge for about a year now, but I've had a passion for Nature my entire life. When I'm not writing articles, you can find me out hiking, gardening, working on green craft projects, or taking photos for my website. You can check out the site at http://arkisaeo.com
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Tags: bad table manners, bluestreak cleaner wrasse, cleaner fish, females chastised by males, fish, punishment
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